The Aerie
Well we're in the final countdown to launch. Months of preparation have gone into the upcoming vacation. We've remodeled the house, juggled our finances, and purged our home of more crap and junk than I am able to believe. Along the way we've studied a little German, researched a little travel, and worked together to figure out what we're doing and where we're going. All in all a good experience in and of itself.
But now we're off. Off to complete one of my goals as a parent, which is to expose my kids to the world beyond the United States borders. To show them that we are not the omphalos of existence, but merely a brash young upstart of a nation trying in many cases to teach its elders to suck eggs. I'm looking forward to explaining to the kids that this building right here, this building was old when Ben Franklin was still in a bassinet. This business was established at about the same time that the Pilgrim's landed. And this humble morticed wall was built at about the same time as he Roman Colliseum, while the natives in America hunted the plains blissfully unaware of the future.
I'm not worried about the trip, and I'm not "excited" about the trip so much as I am "eager" for it. There's a bumper sticker that reads, "Inside every old person is a young person saying 'What the hell happened?'" That's where I am. I look around and realized that despite my best intentions I settled down. And to my surprise I settled down right out of high school, really. Graduated, moved to Minneapolis, and with brief interruptions mostly just lived here ever since.
Didn't plan that. Didn't even notice it happening, really. First this was simply where college was. Then it was simply where I worked. Then it was where I was raising my kids. Alluvasudden a quarter-century goes by and it's pretty plain that I settled down a long time ago. Suddenly I'm old and I'm pudgy and what the hell happened?
But there are compensations. I have my family, who make it all worthwhile. I'm in okay shape for a pudgy middle aged white guy, could be better, could be a lot worse. And I've still got great hair. The hair helps. It allows me to forget sometimes that I'm getting older. If I grow it long enough I can maybe drag it around in front of the gray in my beard. And we've got enough money, at least for now. Can't tell in the future if the economy goes flooey, but for the time being we're doing okay.
So I'm old and settled down, but we're going on an adventure! A month in Germany isn't exactly eating bugs in South Asia or stalking wildebeast in Africa, but it's a good starter adventure. If this home-swap thing works out, maybe we'll get to visit other places around the world, a bit more challenging than a place whose language is close cousin to our own.
So we're into last-minute preparations and the making of final lists. Then we'll cram everything into a few bags, catch the bus to the light rail to the airport, and very shortly land in the Land of Chocolate!
Okay, by "shortly" I mean 11 hours later, but still.
Posted by Albatross at July 26, 2006 11:46 PM | TrackBack