California On My Mind
Giving Thanks in a Thankless World
This should be my last travel post until at least the end of December. Instead, I’ll do it later this week, I’ve got other things to talk about first. Adrianne also reminded me that I still owe you an Amsterdam post. Mostly, I’m under the weather so I don’t have the stamina for a long travel post. First things first…
Methinks new parenthood got in the way of
‘s guest post, so consider this a gentle ribbing. I’ll check in with him later on and make sure we get it. He’s a great writer and has generally good taste (especially if you like Jimmy Buffet).I just got back from San Francisco, late Friday night. I committed a cardinal sin, no flowers in my hair. The gods punished me with a mild sickness. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
November has been a wild month, I’ve been out of the state more than I’ve been home and NOT for work. Our poor doggies are sick with worry themselves:
I’m paying my penance in photographs. I started working retail in 2004, almost 20 years ago. In that 20 years, I’ve worked essentially every Black Friday, Christmas Eve, Day after Christmas and most of the days in between. I’ve even worked a Thanksgiving or two in there. Just the thought of flying to California for the holidays would have seemed ludicrous outside of catastrophe or tragedy as recently as February.
In supervisory roles, days off were still spent fielding phone calls or addressing emergencies. How do you tell someone who is working themselves to death that you’re not there for them? Quitting works, I guess. Speaking from personal experience, people tend to take that toll for granted. Family has, graciously, been understanding. We celebrate when we can. I’ve celebrated Christmas in February before.
Beyond the nature of just having to exist at work from November to January, there’s the mental, physical and emotional toll. Bills that came due whether you had the reserves to pay them or not. In the rare chance we got to hang out in that time frame, I was functionally worthless. Irritable, exhausted, overstimulated and unpleasant. Putting on a brave face took what little I had left and minor inconveniences sent me spiraling. Adrianne handled it as best she could, but she also worked retail for a good chunk of time in there. We had holiday seasons that consisted of us seeing each other for a meal a couple of times a week if we were lucky.
So, coming back from two weeks in Europe to fly across the country and spending Thanksgiving with Adrianne’s family? Come on. That sounds like we won the lottery. Feels like it too. I came home from Belgium with food poisoning and spent most of that five days at home recovering and frantically preparing to head out west. Having the mental and physical reserves to handle this was just another thing that the succubus of work drained.
Recovery is waiting, so I am cutting it short today. Once I knock out the San Fran trip post, I’m going to shift to end of the year. I have a lot to celebrate, but I’m going to fill you in on my favorites I experienced this year. December is a great time of reflection and I’ll have the space and energy to do it right. If there’s anything you want my amateur opinions on, please share in the comments. What I suspect I will cover:
Best Albums/Songs/Movies/TV Shows of 2023
Favorite bands Discovered in 2023
Best Live Shows
Maybe favorite books? That’s a lot of posts already.
Regardless, it is good to be home. See you soon Space Cowboy.
Feel better soon!