Friday, February 22, 2008
"Adventure Well Underway"
10:09pm
We have arrived in Tucson! I picked Julia up from work and off we went east on I-8. At the first rest area, Julia took over driving. I was to change with her on the next stop. There was a rest area only twenty one miles further, but we didn't need that one. However for nearly 200 miles, I never saw another rest area. So Julia drove the entire rest of the way in. Fortunately we found a nice classical station WBAG which played pleasant selections. But the constant 'A" line of the highway lines had an hypnotic effect and I drifted off to sleep.
I had a dream in which I was in a airplane, forever taxi-ing. I was thinking, "Shouldn't this plane be air borne by now?" There's always a thrilling feeling when it finally gets aloft, which hasn't dulled with repetition.
I woke up in time to help Julia navigate in the city. Most of the highway exits were closed, except for Prince-254, a familiar exist. Laura and I always used it to enter Tucson. However, all the new buildings, including a MALL(!), certainly weren't familiar. A lot of changes have happend to this town between our last visit in November 2001 and now. I really shouldn't be surprised, for Yuma has undergone a proportionate number of changes, relative to its size. (For instance, our huge new mall would surprise one who hadn't visited in a while.)
So as we headed down Prince, I noted what was familiar, nestled within all the new. Fortunately I remembered in time that to access Grant, I'd best turn on Oracle, for Grant is parallel to Prince!
The hotel seems decent, it has a breakfast restaurant, our adventure is well underway!
Saturday, February 23, 2008 A
"Embrace This New..."
6:05am
As I laid in bed, before the urge to record my thoughts propelled me outward, I thought of the concept of 'Home'. For a long time I've held in memory a concept of Tucson as 'home'. During those discontented days in Casa Grande, I'd long for Tucson. Even during our contented days in Yuma, I've held this memory as an alternative 'home'. But that is just a memory. Were Laura to see this Tucson now, she would be as surprised as I am now. (And yes, were Laura to see Yuma as it is now, she would be surprised.)
Change is a constant of life. We don't always like it, but embracing it leads to a happier life. In communities of place and communities held together by invisible psychic bonds across the miles, change happens. Some familiar pillars depart and new ones arrive. But we are forever touched by their presence for ever how long or short our exchanges were.
I wait in the early morning darkness, ready to embrace this new Tucson, as she is, and leave to my memory the old one.
