OFF THE ROAD

A closet full of clothes, unpaid bills and a yard that needs mowed, that’s what you get when you come back home. The closet part isn’t so bad, you reacquaint yourself with stuff you forgot you had. Living out of a suitcase and back pack does simplify choices. Finding the balance between clean and dirty is never complicated. But one has to rediscover an appetite for common, day to day routines. I have a stack of bills that I’ll get around to, maybe tomorrow; and the house gets dirty whether I’m home or not. Thunder and lightning remind me that tornado season runs concurrently with graduation parties so you do both, hoping for the best. Once the jet stream and cool air stay up north, we will settle into warm nights and grilling on the patio. 

This last trip to South Korea and New Zealand has dumped some of the wind out of my sails. That’s lots of hours at 35,000 ft. and many meals I’d just as soon have fixed for myself. I’ll never complain about being on the road; something about being in motion that cures what ails me. But it’s also nice to know the car is just a few steps away and my telephone works again. When I got back from Argentina & Chile in 2005, my daughter Sarah picked me up at the airport. The photo she took says a lot. Last Sunday the scene was much the same except it was my son Jon doing the duty. Getting off the last airplane, knowing you don’t have to scurry to make the next connection or find a temporary bed is a well earned relief and I can pass a couple of months in domestic tranquility before I loop back into road culture. 

My granddaughter graduates from high school tonight. I taught school for 34 years and graduation was both a duty and a celebration. ‘School’s out, school’s out; teacher let the monkeys out.” Still, by the end of summer it has a way losing its luster, little more than history and life doesn’t look back. Something new will fill the void. Best friends will go their own ways, little siblings will inherit better rooms but endure closer scrutiny from parents. College or a full time job, September will offer new challenges to both graduates and their families. I’m out of that loop too. But come September I bet I’ll be on the road again, anticipating the way home and my own bed again.