Returning home? Yes, Maine is now home...
Coping with the finality of change
California is cool, fun, and very beautiful. The state’s population is extremely diverse in ethnicity, and Anglos are a minority, which only seems fitting to me. People are more than just friendly, I find, but maybe I am biased. And now, LA is the latest site of the coming darkness spreading across America. So I am not going to spend much time on this topic, as I am heading back down to LA, camping out in a hotel on Century Blvd., as I have an early flight back to Boston, then picking up a bus at the airport back to Portland (the real Portland), Maine and getting back to home and an empty house.
Pictures can tell part of the story of the last two weeks here, but I do want to say thank you to my friends who put me up, took me around to do fun stuff, and provided a sense of welcome that I haven’t been feeling back east. However, those feelings are all a mess, and I am not sure what I want, what I feel (except a huge sense of loss and aloneness), and an inability to process what happened over the last year.
So many friends in Maine were incredibly supportive and welcoming, the events just made those who were not stand out like a sore thumb that was throbbing, because every nerve was raw to the bone. Therefore, no disrespect to those who I love and want to thank for all they did while the shit was hitting the fan for me.
Now, however, a whole new set of tasks lies before me, and it is not easy, I can tell you. But I am cutting my trip by a week, returning home to Maine, because I want some stability and the comfort of the familiar, including getting my house and physical body back in order, with the support from my PT guy, my PA & other medical care, my friends and family there, and my therapist, all whom are assisting me on this long road of recovery.
I’ll leave you with a set of images of contemporary artworks from a visit to the Broad Art Museum in Los Angeles. It is a pretty amazing place, the building is an architectural beauty, but it is what is inside and all the people who come to see it that help ease the heart a bit and give one a sense of hope for the future - like - We can’t really be throwing all this away because of an orange asshole, can we?
Peace and Love
Joel