Suspending and Crossing Time

Well we’re at the airport, relaxing with a beer/glass of wine and just letting go. The airport is quiet, making our leaving very relaxed.

I’m thinking about time. The march toward leaving is building to a crescendo while our lives—work, family, friends—are being suspended in our minds at least while we explore the old world. We’ll cross time zones, lose a day in fact. But more than that, our lives are being put on hold so that we can explore other dimensions of life. The allure of mountains, vertical marking of the earth’s time and art, the cultural marking of beliefs beckons. We’ll soon cross oceans and time zones and end up in an entirely new dimension of life. Cool.

Then there’s time today. I recently used Marty’s beard clippers to buzz Danny’s head for him in preparation for his trip to Nicaragua (October 3). So Marty picked up his clippers today to trim his beard—and I’d changed the attachment. With one sweep across his face, Marty’s beard was gone. Oops! I thought of Phil Simmons in Learning to Fall when he shares the anecdote of his wife doing the same thing to his head ten minutes before the reporter from the NY Times showed up. Caught between the tragic and the comedic—isn’t that perfect. And the upshot is: Marty is going to Europe sans beard. He’s being a great sport about it and hey, he looks ten years younger I’ve reassured him. I think we’re off on the right foot. Asking forgiveness and taking whatever comes as a way to reinvent ourselves.