the prospect of the upcoming holiday season has me feeling sad. living in little a-town seems to me like living on a deserted island. it is neither an island, nor is it deserted, yet i can't help having a feeling of being stranded here, imagining loved ones as being stranded too, the gulf between our island and theirs too far.
the closest island to ours, austin, holds our son c. and his honey c. it's 500 miles away, 8 hours by car or 400+ dollars for the two of us by air. distance and/or dollars limit the frequency of our visiting them. a visit to any of the rest of the family involves even more miles, more time on the road or dollars for air fare. there's just too much distance between here and where they are.
573 miles away on conroe island lives my only sister m. and her family; 888 miles away on the isle of new orleans lives our only daughter k. and husband k. 1358 miles away, the california island of concord, is home to our oldest son b. and his lady r. a visit to any family, be it mine or b.'s, involves long hours by car, sometimes an overnight stay or two along the way, or mucho mas dinero for plane fares. distance is no friend of mine.
such is the state of our far flung and disparate lives. the plan is, for all of mine/ours, to converge on austin at christmas time. all we can do is to make the best of a less than ideal situation; that and to enjoy the hell out of the time we do have together. as sad as the distances between us all makes me, the prospect of being together again, although not soon enough to suit me, but soon enough still, is almost soon enough to make me smile. aio
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