Since the change, it’s been a feeling of being in a time
warp, just like driving through a school zone suddenly decelerating to 20 mph
during drop off and pickup times. From behind my wheel, I look to my right and
my left at other drivers as if they were distant stars from a star trek
episode, racing with me at warp speed. But that is an illusion as we all drift
through in slow motion, impatiently gliding forward, intent on accelerating as soon
as the road sign indicates, until the next school zone hits us, and the time
warp wraps us in again.
Similarly, life here moves along at steady pace with daily,
mundane routines of outdoors and the indoors, until suddenly, just like the
drivers on these massive highways, the velocity of my life picks up and I find
myself swerving around the labyrinths as visitors weave in and out, or I
maneuver between vacations, entertaining, or putting out fires in the maintenance
of the house. Fleetingly this stage subsides, spiraling down like the
complicated off ramps onto the stop and go service roads with their U-turns and
cross roads, before it comes to a halt and the time warp begins.
So is it this place with its shifty soil, too porous to hold
anything with might? Its skeletons of houses and construction cranes dotting
the skyline that is fast pacing the road to evolution, including the heat of
the housing market with its surging prices igniting them into a hot air
balloon? Then there is the gun toting, entitlement culture that adds fear to
migrants, may they be from within the country or perhaps it’s the belief system
that puts any non-believer on the defensive. Can one really put down roots here
and be held firm in this culture?
There’s yes, the beautiful sunsets with magnificent, pinkish
hues that splash against the clear blue sky, the performance of the black,
parking lot birds lined up on transmission lines and suddenly pirouetting in
flocks into a ballet as if to celebrate the closure of a beautiful day. The
short uncomfortable months palatable in exchange of more temperate climate
throughout the year adds to its allure. The coolness of the morning like a baby’s
fresh breath, the serenade of the mocking birds, and the fragrances of the magnolias
all add substance to each chapter of my new life here.
It may be this place or just the phase. Life is an
evolution, a discovery as its new chapters unfold. Tomorrow it may not be this
place or yet another phase in my chapters, my story will continue to move
forward gathering memories, hording only the beautiful ones. It’s not the place
or the phase but the cliché – a journey. It’s the experiences we learn from,
the sounds and smells we pick up along the away, the new friendships and relationships
we secure.
The view from within the time warp looking out is just as
compelling as the view from outside looking in. Life suddenly gets a new
perspective, from which we can take stock and move on, whether it's this place or beyond.
