staying power

A NEW YEAR IS HERE. TIME TO TAKE STOCK. ASSESS THE SITUATION. Figure out what you want going forward.

I've been forced to take an even closer look for a few other reasons. Like the fact that I'm turning 50 in June. Or the fact Tamale and I celebrated our 4th anniversary deep into another New Year's Eve-turned-New Year's Day. Or the reality that I'm a writer-turned-cab driver in a strange new town, with a handful of creative projects I need to complete or embark on ASAP lest I spend the rest of my days driving a cab. (Yeah, it's fun and all, but...)

And then there was the Korean couple I picked up at the airport today. I ended up giving them a $50 ride home, so there was plenty of time for taxi cab conversation. Something the young wife, Olivia, asked stuck with me. A simple question that hit me from a different angle than it usually does.

"Do you think you'll stay here long?"

Usually I'll answer that question by saying how much I love Austin and how great my girlfriend is and how much I love her family and friends and the Hyde Park house we live in. However...

I've lived all my life — minus several extended road trips and a 9-month dream living on a tiny island in Canada — in Southern California. I love the beach, my family, my LA friends. "I'm not really the kind of person who has a master plan and looks too far into the future," is how I usually tie up that conversation.

But there was something about hearing that question today that hit me hard.

Will I be here long?

I'm certainly loving this town and most of the people in it. (Yes, I'm talking to you Cougar Woman.) Every day seems to show me another reason to love it. Today I'm loving the fact that my girlfriend is training for next month's Austin marathon — and the course runs directly in front of our house!

No doubt the events of the last week have facilitated this feeling that I'll be hunkering down here for a bit. Last Wednesday night I left Sister Jill & Todd's house in Temecula, 1300 miles and change from my destination. With a borrowed truck full of Bob. (Thanks for letting us take Old Brown, Cousin Todd!)

With Tamale safely back in Austin after our 2-day drive out (thanks, American Airlines), I was now hauling nearly 5 decades worth of stuff, shoved into the back of an American-made pick-up. Just over 26 hours later I rolled into our driveway, a couple hours past midnight.

With a wing and a prayer, I'd gone through 3 tarps, a couple dozen bungee cords and 30+ plastic bags to protect my belongings from the pouring rain, snow and dust storms I drove through to get back to Casa Verde.

Home.

Austin.

Think I'll stay awhile.

.
..
...

The drive home was made imminently more bearable due to the elephant gift I both bought, brought and ultimately procured at the Makela family gift exchange. Yes, I'm one of those selfish bastards who brings something they'd like to go home with.

In my case, it was the audio version of Life, the recently released autobiography from Keith Richards. Did you see how thick this book with?

I did not listen to a single radio station nor a single tune from the CD player. It was 22 hours of Keith. As read by a worthy British actor whose name I don't recognize and an American guy named Johnny Depp. By the time I pulled into our driveway as the clocked neared 2 a.m. I was literally at the end of the 19th and final CD from my boxed traveling companion.

Thanks, Keith. You were a worthy co-pilot.

...