In One Month

It has been just over a month since Gerrie and I boarded a plane for Los Angeles. Now that we’re home and looking ahead to the long hot summer there will be many times when we’ll think back on this month. We’ll think about the visits and time spent with family and friends. We’ll think about the cities we visited and the landscapes and cityscapes we were a part of.

In one month we visited Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. We stood on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago looking across Michigan Avenue and saw where Historic Route 66 begins. And we were on Santa Monica Pier where it ends. Twice, our train ran just beside the route.

We had some very memorable meals with wonderful food. Then, we had some meals  that were memorable solely because of where we ate, though the food was only so-so. Sometimes, after all, it is about the atmosphere.

We walked through canyons of steel and concrete and paused where towers once stood and remembered that tragic day. Yet, in our reflective moments we celebrated the American spirit as we saw men constructing the next World Trade Center. In these canyons we found quiet respites. Places like St. Paul’s and Trinity Wall Street. The Gothic Revival church is a peaceful haven away from the busyness of the streets. The churchyard is the resting place for many a distinguished people. Among them are Alexander Hamilton and Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Our eyes enjoyed the natural beauty of magnificent blue skies, sweeping coastlines and calming sunsets. We were mesmerized by the vastness of the Southwest and the  sweeping plains of the Midwest. We delighted in the beauty of the flowers in the mission of San Juan Capistrano. 

The hours spent at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art were inspirational. We soaked in the works of Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Seurat, Dali, Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas, Renoir, Rousseau and Toulouse-Lautrec. Then there is Warhol, Ernst, Lichtenstein, Wyeth, Hopper and Pollock. It was a visual feast!

We laughed until our sides hurt, enjoying “Peter and the Star Catcher” on Broadway. The next evening we learned exactly why Carnegie Hall is considered one of the best performance spaces in the world. The music of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra soared in this historic place!

Washington Square Park treated us to an eclectic mix of music and styles. Central Park showed us what a park should be with its mix of activities; people running, people biking, people strolling, people lounging on the grass, people doing jazzercise somewhere in the distance and people sitting on benches simply enjoying the day. The  visit to Strawberry Fields gave us a few moments to be still, to reflect, and to listen as a lone guitarist provided a soundtrack of Lennon and McCartney for those moments. 

In one month we experienced so much! We have added more memories to an already marvelous lifetime of memories and experiences.

In our lifetime together we have visited London, Paris and Rome; living for awhile north of London. I wonder why I waited this long to visit Chicago and New York. It is a regret. There is so much richness these cities. There is so much to be explored, to be experienced, to see, to do. 

Years ago, as an aspiring young actor in community theater, I’d lay awake at night and wonder about moving to a big city like New York. I would ask myself if I had the level of talent and skill necessary to become a professional actor. In time I decided I did not. It was the right choice. On occasion I wonder what would have happened if I had tried.  

But now, in my mind games of “what if”, London or Paris top my list of “where I’d like to live” cities. I do not feel, at this point in life, that I could live in either Chicago or New York. But I do know that I wish to arrange my life so that I’ll visit these cities at least once a year. In my mind I have already began to map out plans for 3- and 4-day visits. This  one month provided a glimpse of what lies ahead for future visits. We’ve only scratched the surface of new experiences and new memories.  

Onward.

Greg

Postscript:  While viewing some of the work that passes for modern art these days, I think to myself, “I can do that.” I believe it is time to clean out and convert the garage.