Lion and Magic Boy

This time, my absence here hasn’t been due to extreme busyness (the explanation much of the time) or a temporary descent into internal blackness (once in awhile) or a complete and utter lack of original ideas (most of the time), no, instead I was actually away this time in body, having traveled over 1800 miles to spend a couple of days in Colorado.

My father moved there about a year ago to be closer to me and his grandchildren, and in an amazing stroke of irony is now left there almost alone since last August when we were forced by the Pennsylvania court to return to PA. During the time we were there together, however, the children got to know their grandfather more than they ever had despite four years of living concurrently in PA, a time when he’d come over about three times a year. In Colorado, he joined us weekly, every Saturday night, for whatever we were having that night and a bottle of wine. Once he brought over one of his own concoctions (the love of cooking runs strong in my family), a huge vat of chicken stew that was devoured hungrily by the children. My dad loved the interaction with Michael who challenged him, and the children who often befuddled him. He played chess with Nathaniel (who beat him, an amazing feat with a man who strives to win at absolutely everything). He was devastated when we left.

Since last year, then, it would seem that my dad hasn’t done anything with his house. Boxes remain in the livingroom still unpacked; pictures are still leaned up against the walls where they might one day hang; and aside from a large bookshelf only partly filled with the hundreds or perhaps thousands of books he owns, he’s bought no new furniture since I was last there despite the fact that he jettisoned nearly all his furniture when he moved out there from PA. True, he’s 72 now, and he’s always been rather a procrastinator (also runs in the family), but there’s more than that going on. He’s 72. And he’s not as spry as he once was. So my visit was a lot about sussing out what’s been going on with him lately since he’s had several medical procedures and may require surgery and hasn’t been able to keep the place up.

It pains me that I’m not still there in Colorado to do this and see that he’s okay. Hugely independent and proud, he would be unlikely ever to admit that he’s not. But I can see what I can see, and I’m glad I went.

Other random observations from travel:

~~I cannot adequately express how very bad the coffee is in, say, free hotel breakfasts. I am gratefully sipping my own coffee now, filled with sugar and real cream. How decadent.

~~Some people, I gather, still think that airplane travel is glamorous. Or interesting, at least. Sure it is, if you like being treated like crap, herded around like groups of unruly children or animals.

~~The Denver airport is by far my favorite, for lots of reasons. Here are two:

1. Getting off your airplane and walking seven or eight miles to the terminal, you are confronted by a small amount of confusion when attempting to locate the baggage area. You must take an escalator down but the signage is lacking somewhat to make this clear. Instead, they’ve stationed a Real Person, friendly and helpful, at the top of the escalator to tell you where you need to go based on your needs.

2. Approaching the security point they’ve stationed another Real Person armed with stacks of plastic zip-loc bags who offers them to any traveler who needs one, and who is astute (or practiced) enough to question you about things like mascara that you never realized were considered by the TSA to be liquids and therefore were technically breaking a law? rule? on your previous flight. Oops. He also hands out candy.

~~You can tell which travelers returning from Colorado had gone there for skiing. They’re the ones with white raccoon circles around their eyes. Don’t these people know about sunscreen?

~~Try not to sit next to a guy who attacks his food on the plane, consuming a “cheeseburger” (using the term loosely, but that’s what the flight attendant called it) and a salad in about 1.2 minutes, as it might cause you to lose your own appetite.

~~As soon as you fall asleep on an airplane, trying to drown out the sea of humanity surrounding you and breathing your air, the guy next to you is sure to prod your arm to get you to get up because he has to go to the bathroom.

~~Hotel desk people at economy hotels are often missing lots of teeth, giving them interesting speech patterns and a disdain for their lives. Which is understandable if you consider that the highlight of their day may be refilling the bread box at the free breakfast buffet.

Returning home is always a good thing no matter how good the trip (and this was was strange, making the contrast less striking perhaps). The cats were happy to see me despite having been well cared-for in my absence. They greeted me warmly and then proceeded to ignore me, punishing me for my thoughtlessness in leaving them. They are still not quite over it. But having cleaned the house not long before everyone left it, the children to be with The Ex and me to be away, things look pretty good around here. The grass even decided to turn green while I was away.