Hither and Yonder

Well...the GPS seems to be working again.  Maybe it's a battery thing.  I'm no electrical engineer, so I've got no clue when it comes to this stuff.  I'm just glad it's better....for now.

Zee weekend - she is here.  I'm glad.  It has been a long one.  I'm staying put this weekend.  Maybe go to the pool, a Costco run, a trip or two to the fitness center.  Calm and quiet is a rarity for my weekends so I'll enjoy it while I can.

In case anyone cares, I'm still enjoying my job.  Two months and counting.  Good thing, because that's why I'm here and not back in Charleston.  Or at least, that's what brought me here - 1,300 miles away.  In life I tend to think that there are larger elements at play in things that may seem fairly obvious at the time...a bigger picture (if you will)...that unfold themselves to have unexpected and deeper impacts.   My ex- used to tell me that smart people think (and over-think) too much and I sometimes agree with that.  In this particular instance - we shall see.

One thing I'm thankful for - football season starts this weekend.  More accurately, football pre-season starts this weekend.  Football season is a frame of mind, and it has very deep and still strong memories and feelings for me associated with it.  My dad.  Watching games together.  Going down to the drugstore to buy packs of football cards for a dime each.  Getting ready for the end of summer, and the beginning of the school year.  If football is being played, then fall can't be far behind.

My team tanks every year so I'm already simply hoping we get thru the season without sucking too badly.  Expectations are low, so if anything good does happen it's a pleasant surprise.  I like pleasant surprises.

I've been re-discovering lately how comfortable I've become being alone.  I've got opportunities to do things with people outside my shell but the motivation to put forth the effort to do it just isn't there.  That's not to say I've become a hermit because I haven't.  But my life is more fluid than solid and I don't want to have to start at the beginning to explain it or justify it to anyone.  I suppose I've learned the hard way that getting thru my outer shell takes more time and effort than I expect people are willing to invest, or that I'm willing to invest myself.  Either way, it is what it is.

We were talking at work today about my various weekend adventures coming and going here and there.  Someone made the astute observation that the reason I go places is typically for people that are there.  My peeps in Charleston and in the Phoenix area, my son near Denver, my mom outside of Dallas, and family in Rochester.  Those are my anchors.  

I've got some trips coming up.  I've got a dear friend dealing with some difficult issues I want to go to see.  I expect that I'll be headed to the Bay area for an event sometime mid-month.  I want to head to Denver to see my son, and a leg of the US Pro Cycling Challenge, in late August.  My mom's birthday is at the end of the month - she'll be 84 - and she'll be headed to Rochester so I'll try to get there too.  The weekend after that I'll be in Atlanta for SCC.  I need to get back to SC sometime this month, too.  Sheesh - I'm getting tired just talking about it.

So.  Back to where I started this post.  I'll enjoy this quiet weekend while it's here because I'll be headed hither and yonder in the coming weeks.

I'll end with a photo from this past weekend.  This is my "other" family - in Charleston.  I cherish them and miss their warmth, their positive energy, and their love.  Goat.Sheep.Cow rocks.

I'll end with a USA Today story about the country's "Happiest Seaside Town".  Someplace in Florida? Nope.  Along Cape Cod?  No again.  Quiet, picturesque Maine?  Not there either.  According to a Coastal Living Magazine - it's little Beaufort, SC (story here).  Beaufort is a quaint, pretty little town an hour south of Charleston off Hwy 17.  I've driven down there before just to sit on the swings along the marina....it's THAT quaint.  I can see myself there.  Someday.