Meanwhile

I only have about fifteen minutes to write this post, but that is probably for the best – if I had as long as I would need to write a full update, it would be far longer than antone would care to read (including me).  Nor do I really want to do a bullet-point-style “While I was away” newsreel.  Most people know the highlights anyway. 

Instead, here is a series of vignettes and observations that have stuck with me recently.

My wife and I visited my mother last weekend in South Texas, where they live in a sort of trailer park community for retirees.  What sticks with me is how charmed I was by the vibe there.  A tight community of friends that see each other every year (most of them are Winter Texans that migrate from the north) and support each other through life.  Elle and I have a version of that, but it’s diffused into a city of millions of people and billions of distractions, so we don’t get as much of any of our friends as we crave.  I like the idea of slowing down into a community that can actually come over when you invite them on a whim.

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Flying back, I was struck by the difference between the bird’s-eye view of South Texas and the bird’s-eye view of New York.  Texas is made up of large squares, with islands of light here and there.  New York is all curves and angles, and all lights with darkness only where there are rivers.  It’s easy to look at where you live and believe that’s what the world looks like.  It’s good to be reminded that isn’t true.

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I have the house to myself this morning, unexpectedly.  Elle got called in to work and I didn’t.  Two things are going on at the same time:  I’m glad for the time to be in my own zen, to accomplish things and sort through things and be productive, things I wouldn’t probably have gotten to if I wasn’t alone.  At the same time, I wish she was here to hang out with.  Or to get our taxes done with, a task we keep pushing back.  Life is better when she’s within touching distance.

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We’ve been doing Bikram Yoga for the past two or three months.  That’s the one where you spend 90 minutes in a room heated to over a hundred degrees, contorting your body into positions that are great for the heart, muscles, and spirit, and occasionally very bad for my self esteem.  I’ve been waiting and waiting for the exertion of doing the practice three to five times a week to show up in my physical appearance.  (Other people are seeing it.  I haven’t been.)  Today I think I noticed a bit of tone where there wasn’t before.  Plus I’m touching my toes easier than I was, which is a minor but measurable victory.

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I’m a dog person with two cats.  I have a love-hate relationship with them.  I feel bad getting frustrated when I can’t do what I want to do because they want attention.  I shouldn’t be mad at them for wanting me to pet them, that’s what pets are FOR.  That’s why they’re called ‘pets.’  Because you pet them.  I sure do hope kids are easier.

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~ by joshkauffman on March 16, 2010.