It has been a very long time since yours truly has had an opportunity to take a vacation. After all, the year 2008 ended on a shaky note and such matters like vacations seemed cloudy, and doubtful at the least. However, since then, 2009 has been one surprise after another. And although the current year is coming to a close, it is not over. 2009 is still alive, and much like everything has been for myself this year, God’s timing was right for a vacation.
So here I am on November 8th, and on the other side of the country in Huntington Beach, California. Literally twenty four hours after celebrating the Yankees world championship in downtown Manhattan, I switch gears, pace, coasts, and mindsets.
See, with every vacation comes the obvious recharging of an individual. An opportunity to remove oneself from the stress and conflict that life brings us on a daily basis. In doing so, participation in routine activities are thus halted to assure of such a stress-free lifestyle.
In fact, I have already begun such a lifestyle with no responsibilities and no accountabilities. For the next week, I will not have to think about school. Forget worrying about accounting, debits, credits, balance sheets and adjusting entries. Not one thought regarding a research experiment, nor my thesis paper. Miles away are the thoughts regarding my job, as well as those that rely on me.Heck, we can’t discuss stress-free without seventy-five percent of my total stress and frustration burden – The New York Knicks, who by the way lost – again!
Yes for one week, those things will be gone. However, one thing remains, and that will be my additions here to the DP. Although one would think that a vacation would be the most rewarding time to receive a mental break from such activities, I felt that some of the thoughts, visions, and views that come to us when all of the other fluff and extra baggage are filtered can be interesting. With downtime while waiting on lines at the airport, at the boarding gate, and not to mention, a lengthy flight, various things run through your mind that most days and most situations won’t allow you to examine, or appreciate. And with that aspect in the here and now, I’ll try my best to record these ponderings, so to say, over the next week. We’ll call them, The California Chronicles.
And as the clock strikes 11:30pm (2:30am East Coast) here on the west coast, I sit here attempting to rationally and coherently put together some thoughts from a travel day. Despite my zombie state, there is one thing that stuck with me all day. With most experiences traveling across country, there is the aspect of adjusting to new biorhythms, cultures, weather, and way of American life.
In a previous west coast trip to Las Vegas, these were all of the norms. However, despite the lack of sleep and fatigue, the images of American land stayed with me as we traveled through each state. As we descended into California, I was in awe of the aerial view of mountains, deserts, and urban areas that are littered throughout the West, and much of the southwest.
Despite growing up in Brooklyn, NY and with various experiences outside of the realms of NYC, images and views like the ones that I saw from the plane today always leave me in awe. Images that leave you wondering despite how small our country has become in today’s technological world, how large is it really? What else is out there in the rest of this World? And most importantly, attempting to wrap your mind around how big God really is. Mountains, deserts, and other forms of land that man could not create, or claim to create.
And as I think of it now…a guy from Brooklyn who is in complete New York Yankees championship attire, and who also thought the biggest thing in the world happened a few days before, was stopped dead in his tracks by clouds, deserts, and mountains.
Imagine that.