Transition to Memories
It's strange to realize I am coming up on finishing my second week back in Los Angeles. What a contrast to my first two weeks in New Zealand. When I arrived last year, I was immediately submerged in technology withdrawals on a farm, going cold turkey with no Wifi or cell phone service. I was sick for those first two weeks, my host teasing me that I was coughing out L.A. smog. Mostly, I think it was the swift change and sudden disconnect from everyone and everything with only the unknown ahead of me. Not even an end date.
Now I find myself in another transition, adjusting back to the U.S. except this time I am the unfamiliar in familiar territory. I still know these streets, muscle memory intact for driving directions. The smell of chlorinated pools and hot sticky summer night air mixing with that charcoal smell of good BBQ making me feel right at home. All familiar comforts that I had missed so much every day while I was gone (particularly friends and family). Yet, I notice the vegetation more than the familiar streets. I am ever aware of the outdoors coming across more as a slotted time activity on the "to do" list in L.A. versus an everyday occurrence filled with observation and understanding. I find quiet solace at cemeteries and golf courses simply because of the extensive green hills. I am once again doing the windshield wiper flip for a turn signal as I adjust back to the right side of the road. I think I may even have offended a few friends obliviously purely because I still communicate in Kiwi humor sarcasm and it is NOT taken the same way. I am now the unfamiliar around things that are known. My phone the greatest stranger to my ear and friend's babies the only telltale physical sign that an extended amount of time has passed. If I had more time, I am sure I wouldn't roll my window down so much to listen to Mariachi music in the streets and the scent of air conditioning everywhere wouldn't be so noticeable, but my adventures are not quite over. I still have travel ahead and it makes the transition amidst all these memories all the more complicated. A pit stop in time. A chance to recharge and gear up for the next unknown ahead of me.
