Last Post from NY (this year)

I’m sitting on what must be the most uncomfortable, pitiful excuse for a chair known to man at JFK in the JetBlue terminal. I’ve been up all night - we got a later than usual start to Thanksgiving this year (think 10pm) and I got dropped off straight to the airport without much time to prepare in between.

Most of my family hasn’t been fully dialed in that I am no longer living in New York - it’s a big clan. They’re also not aware of many other significant changes that have happened in my life over the past few months, but that’s a whole different story.

Life is a lot like packing. Most of us spend all of our lives collecting all sorts of things that we really feel we need - the things we can’t live without. We never give much thought to what really matters except in times of extreme panic or tragedy. It’s often the hardest thing to simply appreciate what you have right in front of you - sometimes it takes 2500 miles to even know you had it at all. In the end, we don’t need all that stuff - just a handful. Being back briefly this time, it makes me realize just how small that handful really can be. For me, it was getting picked up by my brother on Monday night, playing with my nephew and taking him to the bus on Tuesday, watching Blue Man on Tuesday night, and singing and dancing like nobody’s business on Wednesday night with the best collection of friends I could ever have asked for. Sure not everyone could make it, but then again, neither can I. Thursday was ringing sales at the mom’s ice cream shop and lounging around with my cousins - something that we only recently began doing but that really is nice.

The trip ended, much as it began. A quick ride with my brother (younger this time) to the airport and some reflection on things past and things to come. I try not to compare life in New York and life in San Francisco - they’re so utterly different any comparison is unjust.

I’m heading home in an hour. Home - I like the way that sounds, wherever it may be.