The course we choose to study doesnโt begin in school; it begins the moment we recognize that life is our teacher. I chose the course of love between a man and a woman. Yet all Iโve learned from Anais Nin, Joan Didion, and Lawrence Durrell about love isnโt guiding me. I have to start over and develop wisdom from my own experiences.
I checked into the third hotel, the previous one was tedious and murky. This morning in a larger room, on a crisp as iceberg lettuce, a day of clarity and stillness surrounds me. Outside my hotel room, the light is intermittent, a peak a boo stage window, the light illuminates portions of the crispy autumn leaves just before they drop. On my side of the glass, there are shadows and dissonance.ย ย What events take place this week will be instrumental in my future and as piercing as the southwest sun when it shone in my eyes. ย ย
This hotel’s staff is exceptionally friendly, conversant, and engaged in their jobs. Every time I pass by the guest check-in, Rose stops what sheโs doing.
โ Howโs it going?โ
โToo early to tell.โ Iโve been here a week, and I unzipped my lawsuit story, so she is in the know. She is knowledgeable about the law, and living through times that are more threatening than usual.
โ Okay. What are you doing today?โ
โ Researching moving companies. Critical thinking and planning. When I moved from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, I hired a broker, thinking it was the actual company. When the van arrived, half of my things were broken, boxes were opened, and some were stolen. So this time, no mistakes.
โ Mistakes are all about learning.โ
โ Yes, and I learned!โ
โ What did you do last night?โ She said with a curious smile.
โ I was at the bar, Lizzie was there rousing all of us up with puzzles, a brouhaha like the old days, you know, not one of us looked at our phones.โ
โ Please, donโt even start. So annoying when youโre talking to someone and they are staring down at their phones.โ
โ When I was living in LA, at huge four-way intersections in the middle of traffic, pedestrians crossed without even looking up. It was the same everywhere, restaurants, shops, it struck me as a way of looking very significant.โ
โ Youโre so right!โ
โ That reminds me, I need to go write a column.โ
โ Write about your lawsuit.โ
โ No! Iโm in witness protection writing.โ
โ They may read it right?โ
โ You New Yorkers are always on the right key.โ
โ Gotta be, itโs New York.โ
” I’m California”.
” That’s okay, I still love you, and your day is coming, and so is a new man.”
”
ADVENTURERS IN LIVINGNESS 