I did get something to eat and I did wander over to the golf course where it is still wet, still raining and still cool. As I walked about, my mind wandered too, back to the early '70's and to why the break from the corporate and suburban life of Orange County, California (where fires are making thousands flee their homes as we speak). I recall now three seminal moments or events and I'm not sure of their chronological order: a family wedding back in South Bend which put us in touch with a multitude of relatives all full of the joie de vie and a closeness that only happens among family members; a business trip to Rochester NY from which I returned via my uncle's place in Greenwich Village which, as a community, is about as opposite as one could get from the one we lived in in Tustin, CA; and the reading of a book, one that made me think and question and ponder - The Greening of America.
The consequence of that convergence was the decision to change the way we were living, to stop supporting a way of life that had ceased to have meaning to us, to radically change direction and go down some unknown road in the pursuit of, well, we really weren't sure what it was we were looking for, just the need to change maybe.
Change happened. Just ask Diane, or Miki, or Marty. Miki and Marty, our two older children, nine and eight at the time of the change. The younger ones, Eric and Danielle, were not yet five.
(Going back home. Still wet, still raining, still cold.)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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2 comments:
Yes, change happened. We all change as we grow (and grow as we change); it's just part of life. The difference in our particular case was that we made a conscious decision, and the change was a radical divergence from what our path had been. We chose simplicity, having found that accumulation of things was meaningless; we chose family, having found confusion and conflict elsewhere; we chose our own direction, having found that the direction our society, our culture, had imposed on us was all wrong.... for us. It was not easy; we were misunderstood and we were judged. The life of society's "dropouts" is not only challenging, it is downright difficult. We had no second thoughts, though, and have no regrets, because we did the right thing.... for us.
And, boy, did we ever have some interesting adventures.
We are still having adventures!
Why would it matter to an 8-year-old kid what kind of change happened? How could that kid possibly understand what was happening?
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