Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Hither and yon

One of the (many) side effects of this new thyroid medicine I'm finding is the snapping wide awake every morning between 4 and 5 a.m. And when I say awake I mean A-FUCKING-WAKE. I'm not even trying to roll over and hug those warm beasts in my bed anymore; not even pretending like I'm going back to sleep. I know later on that night I'll be nodding off between 8:30 and 9 anyway, so what difference does it make? It also makes no difference whatsoever if I get twelve hours of sleep or five; I'm crackhead-hyper in the morning and heroin-junkie tired in the early evening. It's the most awesome thing ever. If you find emails from me at some strange hour of the day or night, do not be alarmed. The doctor assured me things will even out after a few weeks. I said, That's cool. After I few weeks I won't be a crackhead or a junkie anymore, I'll have just passed straight on through to hallucinating like I took the brown acid at Woodstock.

What's with all the drug references today?

So I was on Facebook this morning (don't ask me why; that shit is so annoying), looking at that thing that allows you to list all the cities you've been to. So I did it for fun, woohoo. But it made me realize how many cities I've actually lived in and the number surprised me. Here are the eleven towns, in chronological order:

Kerhonkson, NY
Sarasota, FL
Wildwood, FL
Inverness, FL (I was there during my formative years, from 12 to 23 years old, and it's here I think of when I hear the word "hometown")
Montgomery, AL
Tallahassee, FL
Lexington, SC
Columbia, SC
Lake City, FL
Brandon, FL
Riverview, FL

Now keep in mind, this list is way different than the list of times I've MOVED, since Inverness, Brandon and Columbia are all repeats and I've moved back and forth, thisaway and thataway and it's way too confusing to go into; all I know is that for awhile my cousin and I were in a contest to see who was moving the most often and everyone we knew started writing our addresses down in pencil, if at all. After getting together with Brian especially, we've lived a somewhat nomadic existence and he'll be the first to admit to enjoying somewhat of a gypsy-like lifestyle. He's also the type that when things are too calm and halfway normal he starts to panic, but hopefully that's settling down a little now. I have quite a long resume', as you might imagine and while it's good to have a well-rounded working experience, it's not so good that the longest I've ever stayed at a job was a little over three years.

There are pluses and minuses to all ways of life of course, but I'm actually thankful for all my movement. Though I detest packing and unpacking and pretty much everything else that goes along with the actual physical move, I've gotten to experience and be challegned by a bunch of cute and/or weird houses, learn to live with the personalities and quirks of different places and have been lucky enough to make some beautiful friendships along the way from everywhere I've been. Of course this means I'm ALWAYS missing SOMEONE, but that comes with the territory. And lucky for all of us living here in the age of the www, I'm able to keep in touch with them all! On a very regular basis. That's some crazy shit if you stop and think about it.

Ever since leaving here, I wanted to come back, even though I do love me some Florida and also many Florida people. And Upstate New York? Thems my ROOTS, baby, and just the smell of the Catskill mountains makes me happier than almost anything in the world. NYC is my favorite city in the world. As a teenager I vowed I'd live there again someday and I do get sad sometimes that didn't come to pass. But hey, the show ain't over yet; you never know. I've always fancied Seattle and the Pacific Northwest too. And if there's anything I've learned in my almost forty years on this freaky planet - it might be okay to unpack and settle in for a little while, but don't ever get too comfortable.

Is it any wonder this has always been my favorite quote:
"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king."

I know you know who said it, but to save you a Google, it was J.R.R. Tolkein. I guess there are worse things one could compare one's life to than that of a Hobbit's.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I guess there are worse things one could compare one's life to than that of a Hobbit's."

Your feet are way cuter.

Kim said...

Yet I'm pretty sure they're about the same size. Which makes sharing shoes with my friends totally impossible.

Swistle said...

FACEBOOK-FRIENDING YOU.