What's Right in Front of You

When I lived on the west coast, looking at a different ocean for six years, I often thought of the Atlantic.

Now the Atlantic didn't conjure up images of beach trails and drum circles, someone strumming a guitar around a fire pit, surfers turtling out under the waves for the last surf of the day before the sun slipped past the horizon.  That was California, the golden dream of the golden land, or "The great experiment" as my friend Dave would sometimes say.   A place so beautiful that when I saw it last, I almost couldn't believe I once lived there.

Now the Atlantic was ultimately more than dunes and soft grasses, the warm gulf stream waters of South Florida and big white sandy stretches of Eastern Long Island and the rocky coastlines and barrier islands of Nova Scotia.  It was who not what, that ultimately anchored me back East. 

(Though a good friend in California did comment that I could 'Take a lap around the room before committing to a location'.)  

A special trick of course is to make sure to mentally capture the moment, the time, when it happens, trying not to skip ahead too much, realizing that one day the "good ol' days' will be the actual day you are in at the moment.    A yoga teacher might say this is being present.  It's also about appreciation, which is often seen best in hindsight instead of the actual moment.

Over the 4th of July, I was at an annual party, where the lawn was full of people dressed in red, white and blue, and fireworks being shot off right over head (to the tune of Neil Diamond "Coming to America" no less).   It was one of those perfect East Coast July evenings, blue skies, mild weather and ice cream, crisp white beadboard and soft purple hydrangeas in full bloom.

More than once it has reminded me of the final scene in the film "Meet Joe Black" where Joe Black (death, played by Brad Pitt) is about to escort William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) away, later that evening, during his 65th birthday celebration.  William Parrish has gotten a rare 'heads up' about Joe Black's nature, so he's given the rare gift of not wasting the moment.  Fireworks are exploding over head and everyone that William Parrish knows and loves are with him that night.  William Parrish notices Joe Black caught up in the beauty all around him and comments, "It's hard to let go isn't it."   Joe replies, "Yes it is, Bill."  Bill replies, "And that's life...what can I tell you."

Enjoying the ride, all of the ride, requires a certain discipline, and more often than not, you're only able to see the road signs when looking backwards.

Yesterday I was rushing from work to meet two close friend I've known for over 20 plus years, one who was in town for  a meeting.   My office air conditioning was broken and I was running late due to a train stall and being stuck underground with equally sweaty and grumpy people.    As I made my way down 6th Avenue, I had to laugh at the big reminder right in front of me.

EnJOY.