We were standing in the parking lot that used to be behind the Boy’s Market in Encino, except at that time it was a bunch of houses.
Those houses had been purchased by my synagogue because we bursting at the seams and needed more room.
One of the moms who had never outgrown the mean girl stage wanted to know what I was doing back in LA because she had heard I was divorced again and living in Texas.
“If you play your card right you could be my third favorite wife, assuming you can handle a man who likes to think.”
I said it with a grin that would make the Cheshire cat jealous and walked away shaking my head.
Our families were never friends nor particularly friendly so I was more surprised that she and the others took time out of their very busy stay-at-home while the nanny works days to say something to me.
One of the guys that had been part of the pick up basketball crew I played with overheard it and said it was good to see I was still making friends.
“She doesn’t deserve my time or my real thoughts.”
He smiled back at me and said I was right.
“I am going to put that on a t-shirt and sell it.”
He rolled his eyes and I kept going. It was a quick trip home and I had to move fast.
The guys on Lost were desperate to get back to the island and I understood it because I had my own motivation to get back to the secret kingdom.
Sometimes there is no place like home but that doesn’t stop us from having to head out on new adventures not knowing if we’ll ever go back.
Watched an old friend’s interview from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and thought about how fast time flies.
One of my fraternity brothers is there now too, except he is from Cleveland so it is a trip home as well as a vacation…I think.
The “I think” comes from experience with trips home that are supposed to be vacations but are chock full of family responsibilities.
It can be great going home but sometimes those trips are work and you have so much going on you can’t let people know you’re back.
That is what happened with the parking lot story above. I ran into a few people who asked why I hadn’t announced I was coming home.
****
The 300 miles I put in yesterday and the lack of good sleep the night before wore me out a bit.
Went to bed at 1 and slept until almost 11.
When I rolled out of bed and saw the time I almost went looking for a Delorean to see if I had gone back to 1989.
If I had I would have headed out to Bloomington to surprise someone with a crazy story about the kingdom and maybe headed off to Jerusalem afterwards.
Of course I would have made a point to invest in Apple and a few other stocks but that is a different story.
Anyhoo, driving through East Texas can make you wonder if you have traveled back in time, especially if you read some of the billboards.
If nothing else it makes it very clear how some of us live in different worlds from others.
A discussion about the local housing market made me think for a moment if I would be willing to move that way as the prices would allow for a significant change in lifestyle.
A change that could present an opportunity to retire sooner but that would require multiple other sacrifices, none of which I am prepared to make now.
I have already made sacrifices that I consider to be huge and life changing and not all by my choice.
It is not impossible to see some happening again but not without some doing. I paid a price for these, maybe it is enough.
