It has not been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon. Sometimes life stretches on undisturbed like an empty road amidst monotonous fields and sometimes, it’s like the old 52nd Street at night with memorable music flowing out of blocks of jazz clubs amidst the bustling crowds.
Here was my week.
Friday: Meet my daughter, son-in-law and grandkids to watch a rough cut of the film a school parent has been making about my last year at school. Almost three years of non-stop dedicated work and hundreds of hours of footage condensed down to an hour with hopes to bring it to some summer festivals.
Saturday: The long-awaited Retirement Party and when my turn came, 45 minutes to summarize 45 years. Big exhale and lovely dinner at the Park Chalet with the extended family.
Sunday: Frisbee-in-the-park walk with the fam, take them to the airport and finally decide to deal with the four packed drawers of the front room secretary, recycling some 200 obsolete cassette tapes and organizing/saving another 100 just in case I ever can play them again on a machine. Things like my recordings of a trip around the world, talks and concerts I gave, kids when they were young, etc.
Monday: Looked into replacing my 10-year old computer that is starting to break down before the upcoming Europe trip, but too complicated with all the new systems that have to be updated/ installed. So I’ll travel with my heavy i-Mac with its non-functioning disc drive and take the external keyboard because the other keys often don’t work . Meanwhile, set up the last changes on a new phone, having jumped from i-Phone 6 to 13.
Tuesday: Closed out our landline after a couple of years of paying some $600 a year for robots to call saying our car warranty is about to expire. The end of an era, bidding goodbye to our faithful 415-564-1597 number and our answering machine.
Wednesday: Decided that my Horton faithfulness to a Men’s Group that was often disappointing me had run its course and announced that I would be leaving after 32 years.
Went to CODA movie at a movie theater with my wife and four other people in the theater and had that rare feeling of not wanting to leave my seat at the end, moved by its extraordinary story and beauty.
Today: Pack twice— once for a weekend poetry retreat that starts Friday night and once for the European bike ride/workshop trip that begins with a Sunday night flight. Tie up all the loose ends that such trips insist you do.
It has not been a quiet week at Lake Wobegon. But soon I hope to be wandering around old Italian towns and eating pasta outdoors on warm Spring nights, remembering how life can be without the constant lists and feeling like I should be getting something done. Time to breathe a bit deeper, savor a bit wider, attend to a world constantly announcing its marvels if only we would listen.
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