The Epiphany Part II

When last I posted here (now realizing it has been more than 2 weeks) Id and Ego were left behind while I went away for a vacation. Why is a vacation such a big deal? Why were Id and Ego left behind? Well, I don’t think I came to fully realize its value until I got back and thought about it.

When Mariann (my late wife) passed away I poured myself into my work and became a bit of a social recluse. At first it was to protect myself and to have complete control over a healing process that in and of itself was a brand new lesson every day. Eventually, living in exile became normal, comfortable and very difficult habit to break. I occupied my time with managing a business, writing and sharing from a distance. This was my Homeostasis; the haven I could exist in. For 6 years I rarely ventured beyond the tiny world I had carved out for myself.

I had been invited to get away and spend a few days with a friend, which would seem like a good thing, but it made me nervous. I would have to travel not just beyond my world, but into a new one I was not at all familiar with. I resisted at first but then something happened that week that convinced me that I had to get away at any cost. Without too many details, I checked in on a friend to make sure she was alright. She has cancer and had been feeling poorly of late. I found her in a horrible state clinging to life, hydrated her and stayed until the ambulance came to rush her to the hospital, and came back to clean the house. She is much better today and doing well. I needed to un-see that event…and get away.

So began the adventure. What do I pack? My laptop, my camera, my portable art table…clothes…I must remember cloths, line up babysitters for the dogs, forward calls to my cell phone…food, I can take food. I love to cook. I gathered all of the “stuff” ready to pack it in the car and realized that there was enough to fill the cargo space with little room to spare. How long will I be away? Three days? Perhaps I over packed. I whittled it down to the bare necessities, which was probably too much and set off on the journey.

I will tell of this adventure in several parts and end this part describing the drive to my destination. The last 100 miles of the trip was spent driving through open farmland and small rural towns. I told my friend of the drive, ”There was a big city, then a very large farm, and then your home.” Along the drive I came upon a corn seeder (a very large, very slow piece of farm equipment) and found myself following behind at 15 miles per hour for at least 20 miles with no opportunity to pass him. Any other time this might have driven me slightly mad, but this time I smiled and said to myself, “Who cares. I’m not in a hurry, I’m on vacation!”

I’m just saying.