Gary’s post: Managed to fly from ABQ to Orlando today on Delta Airlines. Not a bad flight, but I did manage to get in ALL my steps today in the Atlanta airport. Walked from Terminal A to terminal F which ended up being about 3 miles. Long freaking way. I did check my bag, so at least that wasn’t a hinderance.
It was an interesting flight from ABQ to ATL. I overheard (when the baby behind me wasn’t screaming) a lot of people who were saying they had relocated to Atlanta or the east cost from New Mexico and they’d never live in NM again. Great place to visit but they wouldn’t live there. Baffling to me because I love it. Like anyplace it has it’s ups and downs and it’s not Seattle or Texas but it is its own unique place with its own unique beauty. I love the beaches in Florida and the East coast, but I couldn’t live there because you have to evacuate every year during storm season. Not my cup of tea. The West coast is rugged and beautiful, but cold and wet a lot of the time. While my kids live there, and I miss the heck out of them, socially, politically and economically it has changed so much from when I grew up there that I don’t recognize the place. And I can’t afford to retire in the Seattle area. And Washington in general is a mess. So everyplace has its issues, but where we live in New Mexico is a bit of a bubble and it is our place so I’m happy to be where ever Wendy is happy. And the house building is continuing. The front loader showed up today, so now to start building the pad!!
After I landed in Orlando, I grabbed a taxi to the hotel. I arrived at the hotel, checked in and walked into the room, tired and hungry. I set all my stuff down and hung up some clothes then went into the bathroom. When I entered, it struck me – a REAL TOILET! And a shower that I could just turn on and stand in. I was dumbfounded. I guess I’d gotten used to RV living or at least numbed by living in the RV. While the RV is nice, it is still 36 feet long and 8 feet wide. There’s only so much glamor you can pack into that space, and it’s definitely NOT THE BATHROOM! So tomorrow, I’m taking a nice LONG hot shower, siting on the toilet until it leaves seat marks on my ass and generally lounging in the bathroom until I have to go to meetings!!
I think my hesitation to make this trip was because of all the change that’s happened over the last year. I’m noticing that as you get older, routine and sameness becomes a safe harbor. While I embraced change when I was younger and in my pseudo prime, as I get older I find the routine is comforting. I have to wonder why that is. In thinking about it, I think it’s because as we age our ability to process change slows down, and we can’t focus on the end results as effectively. So NOT having to do that is comforting and doesn’t drain our mental energy. And it’s less frustrating as you don’t have to deal with making more decisions about how to manage change. And I remember my mom saying that as a kid, they wouldn’t tell me where they were taking me because I’d get so worked up that I’d vomit. That sez a lot about me because I’m finding that as I get closer to retirement, sometimes change at work makes me mentally vomit and tires me out. But that’s a different topic for a different day.
This work meeting is good for me. I complain how every day that I’m at home, isolated and not connected. Well, now I’m forcing myself to be social and connected. While it’s painful and uncomfortable, it’s good for me to network and keep connected to work peers that I don’t get to see in person very often. Much needed, but still stressful. I need to focus on letting them talk and not me talking about me. Listening is much more rewarding than talking/telling. Network, network, network.
Okay, it’s 10:30pm here on the East Coast. A good dinner, some nice wine and now I need to get some sleep and recover from traveling today. Tomorrow is a long day of meetings. Thanks for listening to my prattling, I just had to write about the reality of a real bathroom… The simple things….
Take care.
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