Is it a rut or a routine?
Another lap in the forest, this time with Magnum hisself. I assured him I would be writing about watching him slowly teeter over at the trailhead, locked in his clipless pedals. He augered into the dirt with a pillowy, "OOF!" just as the runner we passed turned the corner and headed for home. We laughed, because that is a joke that never gets old.
Unlike my rut-ine. Although I work from home, often in my underwear, the work carries a lot of stress, as does your work I'm sure. To be away from my station for any length of time is to picture my corner of the internet crumbling, and my hard-earned influence passing into irrelevance. To be unavailable in a crisis is to be unnecessary.
I have long identified my work with the following passage from A Catcher in the Rye, a book about a disturbed young man who thinks of everything too much, and usually in the wrong way (at least if happiness is involved in your future goals.)
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."
I need to sort out a vacation and let some of those kids run off the cliff. Who knows? There might be something great down at the bottom and I'm just keeping them from it.
Maybe Honduras in August? When the weather is nice and the revolutionaries are restless?
Juancho
15 comments:
How about a ride in the woods this evening around 5? Give the kids a test run...
I think maybe the book is about Terry. Maybe the kids are his fears of hurting his neck or elbow? Or is it the plaid mini skirt he'll kave to wear? Maybe the edge of the cliff is the drive to Oak Mountain? Dragon
Turn around and jump!
What, is this the BigRing Bookclub now?
The first rule of bookclub is...
I like the way your write.
i didn't know kids ran anymore. give em a video game or something and take a breather. whatever you do, keep writing...
Portland/Hood River in August?
I'm liking that idea.
nobody was around when I fell, nobody fast, I mean - except me.
Let 'em jump. They might not fall...maybe they'll float away happy if they finally get the chance to jump!
Or maybe they'll drop into a bloody heap on the rocks below. Who cares? You'll be on vacation! Everything will be cleaned up by the time you're back.
Careful taking lessons from that book. History shows it's prone to misinterpretation. Better to get your cues from the White Album.
I usually fire up Kill 'em All when I need perspective.
I suppose the thing that would haunt me would be that you could never catch enough to make up for the ones that went over the edge. In the very least, you should take comfort in the fact that not only did you save many, you trained many others how to catch as well. The cliff is littered with catchers that would not be on watch, had it not been for you.
Revel in your time, you have lived well.
Do me a favor and call me to ride this weekend.
It's SO on!
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