Since the Thanksgiving weekend we’ve been in the Durham, NC area three times. First for the holiday celebrations, and then to visit Nando and the ensuing ceremonial events that follow. In between times I’ve been dealing with the ongoing home repair projects and these continue on, even in my absence. At least I hope so.
I drove back to Durham on Wednesday evening and timed the drive so I could pick up B at the RDU airport around 10PM and head to the Governors Inn (now a Radisson hotel) in RTP, where we have been for the last three days.
It’s unfortunate that we have to travel away to really value what we leave behind. Our setting here at the hotel is not all that bad, but it’s definitely not the same. The look out the window is not the Atlantic Ocean, but Interstate 40. If I want to see dolphins surfacing, I don’t pick up a pair of binoculars, instead I turn on the TV to the Discovery channel. A bike ride to the Post Office would be more like planning an expedition to climb Everest. But it is, what it is.
It reminds me of the 24+ years that we lived in this area. I am now associating the RTP area with work. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but just that the whole area looks so “corporate” to me that it almost feels foreign.
On Thursday, I had a routine dentist appointment with my old dentist. Since it was a rather cold day (High of 40F), I decided to walk to the dentist’s office which is around a mile and a half from the hotel. I knew that there was a nice paved trail around the RTP so it’d be an easy walk. Just getting out of the hotel to the street was quite a hike with the huge front yard between the street and the building. Once on the trail I felt at home, however I couldn’t help to notice that I didn’t see a single person on the trail that morning. Maybe it was too cold, or maybe it’s just that our lives in this corporate world are just so busy that walking a mile or two is something that just doesn’t fit our busy lives. Or maybe my new AARP-approved walking schedule (11AM), does not harmonize well with the corporate mindset. Who knows?
Out our hotel window we look over the hotel parking lot and beyond that a row of pine trees that separate us from Interstate 40. Now that the leaves of the smaller deciduous trees have fallen, I can see the rows of cars zipping heading east or west on the lanes beyond. In the off-peak times the cars seem to be zipping by but during the two rush-hour periods of the day, they go considerably slower. I wonder if they are heading to their respective Post Offices or maybe late to some fun activity, or maybe the daycare is about to close. Who knows? But I only know that there are not many flowers to smell along the way on Interstate 40.
The passing of Nando, and maybe my new responsibility of having to control all the fish in the Atlantic Ocean, have made me slow down and forced me to smell the flowers along my way. Actually the process may have started even earlier when B and I decided to leave Chapel Hill, NC after 24 years. The process of downsizing. Getting rid of all the stuff that you were so proud to accumulate for years. The act of questioning the value and utility of every petty little thing. Will I ever use this jar of old screws? Never mind that I haven’t needed them in 20 years. Will I have room for them in our new home? Do I want to put them in a moving box and carry them along? It turned out to be quite liberating after all. From our four-bedroom Chapel Hill house moving to a one-bedroom apartment in Durham turned out to be the most invigorating thing we had done in years. And now a lot lighter, we feel content to camp out two or more months at the beach house or even two or more weeks in a hotel room anywhere.
Quite often my mind wonders to Nando’s sudden departure. I am envious of all the deeply religious folks around the world, who would quickly respond to the question of where Nando is right now. Is he facing the pearly gates? Or is his soul going to be recycled to another living being? Is he surrounded by a cluster of virgins or is he negotiating his way out of purgatory? If what Nando is now still have some level of conciousness, he should already know what mankind has been searching for ever since we have had some thinking capacity. What happens behind the curtain of death?
I drove back to Durham on Wednesday evening and timed the drive so I could pick up B at the RDU airport around 10PM and head to the Governors Inn (now a Radisson hotel) in RTP, where we have been for the last three days.
It’s unfortunate that we have to travel away to really value what we leave behind. Our setting here at the hotel is not all that bad, but it’s definitely not the same. The look out the window is not the Atlantic Ocean, but Interstate 40. If I want to see dolphins surfacing, I don’t pick up a pair of binoculars, instead I turn on the TV to the Discovery channel. A bike ride to the Post Office would be more like planning an expedition to climb Everest. But it is, what it is.
It reminds me of the 24+ years that we lived in this area. I am now associating the RTP area with work. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but just that the whole area looks so “corporate” to me that it almost feels foreign.
On Thursday, I had a routine dentist appointment with my old dentist. Since it was a rather cold day (High of 40F), I decided to walk to the dentist’s office which is around a mile and a half from the hotel. I knew that there was a nice paved trail around the RTP so it’d be an easy walk. Just getting out of the hotel to the street was quite a hike with the huge front yard between the street and the building. Once on the trail I felt at home, however I couldn’t help to notice that I didn’t see a single person on the trail that morning. Maybe it was too cold, or maybe it’s just that our lives in this corporate world are just so busy that walking a mile or two is something that just doesn’t fit our busy lives. Or maybe my new AARP-approved walking schedule (11AM), does not harmonize well with the corporate mindset. Who knows?
Out our hotel window we look over the hotel parking lot and beyond that a row of pine trees that separate us from Interstate 40. Now that the leaves of the smaller deciduous trees have fallen, I can see the rows of cars zipping heading east or west on the lanes beyond. In the off-peak times the cars seem to be zipping by but during the two rush-hour periods of the day, they go considerably slower. I wonder if they are heading to their respective Post Offices or maybe late to some fun activity, or maybe the daycare is about to close. Who knows? But I only know that there are not many flowers to smell along the way on Interstate 40.
The passing of Nando, and maybe my new responsibility of having to control all the fish in the Atlantic Ocean, have made me slow down and forced me to smell the flowers along my way. Actually the process may have started even earlier when B and I decided to leave Chapel Hill, NC after 24 years. The process of downsizing. Getting rid of all the stuff that you were so proud to accumulate for years. The act of questioning the value and utility of every petty little thing. Will I ever use this jar of old screws? Never mind that I haven’t needed them in 20 years. Will I have room for them in our new home? Do I want to put them in a moving box and carry them along? It turned out to be quite liberating after all. From our four-bedroom Chapel Hill house moving to a one-bedroom apartment in Durham turned out to be the most invigorating thing we had done in years. And now a lot lighter, we feel content to camp out two or more months at the beach house or even two or more weeks in a hotel room anywhere.
Quite often my mind wonders to Nando’s sudden departure. I am envious of all the deeply religious folks around the world, who would quickly respond to the question of where Nando is right now. Is he facing the pearly gates? Or is his soul going to be recycled to another living being? Is he surrounded by a cluster of virgins or is he negotiating his way out of purgatory? If what Nando is now still have some level of conciousness, he should already know what mankind has been searching for ever since we have had some thinking capacity. What happens behind the curtain of death?
Sorry, I got distracted again... Back to fishing.
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2 comments:
I found the latest blog entry to be very poignent. Are you lamenting your 24 years in the triangle, raising a family/working wondering how much time and money was wasted in the rat race to aquire material "things"? Or are you only able to appreciate your new found perspective because you worked hard to make the money - allowing for the beach house etc? Unfortunately an appreciation for what is really important in life is most times only afforded to us geezers.
It is always good to run across moments that remind you to slow down and enjoy the journey. I am finding your blog interesting as I approach my AARP years.
Ok, Orlando is home now, in Deltona, visiting his super AARP parents.
W're happy to have him here.
MOM
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