Looking back
Saturday, January 21, 2012 @ 9:30 AM
I glanced at my watch to note the date I needed to jot down on all the paperwork for the night. The date, January 17, jumped out at me. I tried but failed, that night, to figure out why that date seemed to hold a place of importance somewhere deep in my subconscious. I chalked it up to some weird occurrence in my past and let it go.
A few nights later, again after a glance at my watch for the same reason as a few nights before, realization dawned as to why the date seemed to represent something of significance. This time, the numbers on the face of the watch read January 20.
I remembered...
Seven years ago, on January 17, we left behind everything we knew and headed out into an unknown future. Just as the sun rose over the frost-covered golf course behind our house, we loaded three dogs and a few paltry belongings into two cars.
I remember waves of feeling that washed over me as I pulled away from the house without so much as a glance in the rearview mirror. Days earlier, I accepted the fact that an era of my life was coming to an end; I felt no need to dwell in the past as I tried to focus on what our future might be. After all, at that point I only knew that, whatever our future, it lied somewhere else.
On January 20, just before 10pm, we crested the hill near Apex and were treated to a view of the Vegas valley. Today, it still ranks as my favorite view of the valley at night. Near midnight, we rolled to a stop in front of the wife's grandmother's home in North Las Vegas. As I stepped from the Jeep, my first thought was that I was overdressed - a winter parka, wool hat, scarf, and skiing gloves might be appropriate when driving through cold Colorado winters in a Jeep with no heat, but in the 50+ degree night of the Vegas valley that day, it proved too much.
My second thought, as I glanced at the Jeep and the wife's Mustang, was siple. We made it. We actually survived, and a tale of survival it is - I might even share it one day. The journey made the destination that much sweeter.
As the dogs cavorted around off leash in the back yard, I sat on the patio sipping a well-deserved adult beverage. The wife, the three dogs, and I crashed soon thereafter in the 100 square foot room that would be my home - or prison cell as I would eventually come to think of it - for the foreseeable future.
Our conquering of Vegas would have to wait for another day.
Other than a self-imposed (OK, wife-imposed) year-long exile from the valley, the past seven years have been pretty sweet. Seven years ago, I was the biggest asshole I knew. I hated all of humanity for no real reason. Had you told me than that I would eventually end up working in the service industry, and liking it, I would likely have forcefully tried to shove your head up your ass. I'm far less violent these days ;)
I'll save more parts of the story for other days I feel like sharing. The culmination of my metamorphosis arrives this August. If all goes well, I will have moved completely past my Mr. Khaki past (ask the wife if you want more details on that moniker). August should be interesting, but details of that will have to wait a few more days...
Time for me to raise a tasty adult beverage to the last seven years...
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Here's to your metamorphosis, and the almighty, all-generous ticket lottery Gods that current hold our fate. :-)
:-D ur the best