Should I Stay or Should I Go?
29 May 2008
Stockbridge, MA—
Wayne hopped on a bus bound for Columbus this morning. He then flew from there back to Philadelphia, from which he’ll fly to San Francisco on Saturday for a week-long family vacation in northern California. You may recall we spent some time there recently. In the parlance of his students, Wayne is an all-star partyer.
My party is almost over, and as much as I’m really looking forward to getting home, I’m oddly apprehensive toward the idea of being stationary. I guess a body in motion really does tend to stay in motion. I’ll have to get used to being home in much the same way I had to get used to living on the road.
Tonight’s very kind hosts and my would-be in-laws, Lisa and Eric, asked me over dinner which of the trip’s revelations was the most unexpected. The first thing that sprang to mind was my renewed appreciation for the northeast. With Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, and DC forming a pretty tight cluster, a major metropolitan change of scenery is never more than a couple hours away. I haven’t seen anything quite like it anywhere else.
The last leg of this trip takes full advantage of that convenient regional characteristic, easing me back into stasis with a mere eight hours of driving over the course of three days. After four weeks of broadening horizons, will the familiar sights that remain bring sighs of relief or sighs of boredom?