I am on my way to a family vacation: small because we are a small family, my brother Rich, mother, and myself. A cruise to Alaska. We’ve done this before, so I don’t expect to see new things, except in the “every summer is a different summer” sort of way; but Rich will be there, and that will be fantastic. And Rich, who has a wife and three nearly adult children at home, says he is looking forward to sleeping for eight hours in a row.
So for a moment, I am in Seattle, basically long enough to shuttle to the airport in an hour to pick my brother and mom up. It’s cool, gray, and windy: when I came in I could see rainier, but only in shreds, mostly hidden behind clouds. I have gradually learned to like living in Lawrence, and the Seattle that is is not the Seattle I used to live in, but — is this a pang I feel? Yes, yes, it is.
This view is of course not the view today, or from where I am (currently the Red Roof Inn Seattle Airport, with a view out onto MasterPark’s garages and the Ramada Inn), but it was, from when I lived here. Ten years ago, I took a ferry to Bainbridge and this is what I saw. I miss you, that Seattle, that life. Twenty years ago, I might also have taken such a picture, and I miss that Seattle and that life as well.
But this life is good, too. How we get from there to here, or from here to there, is always a mystery, even if you can see every step of that path. Why was this the way it went down, meaning life? Why did I turn this way and not that? When did I change my rules?
Anyway, I don’t know what or when I will be posting. I will be taking many, many pictures, so you will have new things to look at when I get back!
