Tomorrow I begin to make my way back to Paros. I will fly from New York to Vienna, have a short stopover and continue on to Athens where I will stay Wednesday night. I’ll take the early morning ferry to Paros on Thursday and be back on the island in time for lunch. I am looking forward to getting back. As much as I have enjoyed being here in America I feel relieved to say farewell again. I have many friends and family connections, roots and so forth but the challenges I face merely frustrate me. There seems to be little reward. The best I can do here is nothing. That, in itself, is a relief since it means that I am able to let those around me do their respective tasks and keep my nose out of the mix. Growth is apparent, even to me.
Unfortunately I am finding little artistic growth for me here. The arts community is too catty and cloistered for my tastes and too involved with what is supposedly new, shocking or cutting edge or any its post-modernisitc derivatives. The weather is also damn cold right now, and breezy. I want the heat and sun in August, not this rainy, cool pattern. Yes, things are green and we are lucky to not be living in the Midwest, but I yearn to be back in the heat and dry air of the Aegean, the sea sparking and the cloudless sky boring me with its nondescript toned sunsets. I want the light to bounce off of 3rd century BC marble columns and change my perception of the color ‘white’. The fall will arrive and clouds will appear, the rains will begin and the island will once again turn green, spattered with the colors of fall flowers against the blue skies and rocky hills outside of town.
Today I take care of my usual pre-travel tasks. Packing, of course, but also a run to the bank, last minute laundry, checking email addresses, charging mobile phones and double checking that have my passports. My mother is aware that I am leaving and is sad but also understands that this is the path I must go and that my life, as of now, does not include Ancramdale as it used to. She is happy that her children are happy, eats well, sleeps well and enjoys her days. What else is there, really?
JDCM
Comments are closed.