Sunday, November 22, 2009

I Hate To Brag, But. . .

I am sitting outside in the back yard of the home of our good friends the Reisch family, in late November, in shirtsleeves, watching my children play. I don't know what the temperature is at the moment, but I am sitting in the shade to avoid getting too hot.

The trip was very long, although I have to credit Jet Blue for doing more than any airline I've flown recently (though I have to admit that my last flight was some years ago) to make the trip more pleasant. I had picked Jet Blue for the lower fares, but found the service and the many nice touches very impressive.

They have an individual screen for every seat, with around 35 channels of progamming to choose from. I watched a fascinating show on the National Geographic channel about ancient crocodiles. They also have more legroom than I am used to, and I could easily get used to that.

And the people were very, very nice. The captain even made his preflight annoucement standing at the front of the cabin instead of facelessly from the deck.

I took the boys and their friend Madison to the park today to run off some steam. The last time I was there, with Thomas, there was a cute little play structure. Now there is a giant structure with lots of amazing new things to climb on and hang from. The children had a blast. My boys have never been on a playground that big before.

They've never, in their memory, been anyplace this big before. But in the true spirit of childhood, they are too involved with the moment to really notice much difference. To them we are just sleeping over with friends, visiting new and exciting places, and visiting people that, for the most part, they don't remember meeting.

On the other hand, I am still in awe of the contrast between New Hampshire, which even in its largest cities is more like a giant small town, and Los Angeles, a city with a population three times that of our entire state.

I sometimes wonder what it is I would miss about New Hampshire if we lived in California. When I think about it, the list is small. There are a few special places we like to go, but these are places that we could revisit on a vacation to the Granite State. Mostly I would miss my theater group. Not only do i love the theater, but The Village Players is a very special group of thespians. If I lived somewhere else, I would want to be able to come back long enough at a stretch to do the occasional play with this particular company.

But I feel very comfortable in the city. I love the availability of everything. When i first got in the rental car, I wondered how quickly I would adapt to driving here. I think it took about a minute, and then only because I was in an unfamiliar car.

I missed the entrance to the freeway because the rental agent sent me in a direction I don't normally use. But knowing how Los Angeles is laid out, I found my bearings immediately and found the entrance in a matter of a couple of minutes.

Even streets I couldn't remember the names of were instantly recognizable when I came to them. I picked the right freeway exits, turned at the right cross streets, and then faltered badly when I passed the Reisch house. The front had been seriously remodeled since my last visit there.

But other than that, there has been nary a misstep.

In ten days we will get back on the plane, back to school and jobs and house construction. I've been there for eight years, and of course it is familiar and I am reasonably comfortable with it.

But it's only in Southern California that I feel truly at home.

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