A Journal of My Mid-Life Crisis

29 November 1998 - Coming Home to Someplace New

The title for this entry is from Jay O'Callahan's wonderful collection of Pill Hill stories. I think they're only on audiotape, not in book form, but you'd want to hear him tell them anyway.

I thought the title was apt for my experience this week of seeing Los Angeles differently than I had before leaving on my trip. I was feeling like a slug so I determinedly set out Thursday morning to walk somewhere interesting. Now, I've had a book on Los Angeles hikes for years, without ever actually going on any of these hikes. But I threw the book and a bottle of water into a daypack and set out for Franklin Canyon.

I didn't actually manage to find the trail I had intended to hike. (Well, actually, I did find it, but only when I took a wrong turn on the road while walking back to my car.) But I did manage to find some other very nice, reasonably easy trails and just enjoyed the cool breeze through the canyon and the quacks of the mallards on Franklin lake and the general feeling of being amid isolated chapparel just above Beverly Hills. I lived maybe 4 miles from this for about 7 years and this was the first time I had ever actually been up there.

Which also motivated me to get down to R.E.I. on Friday morning and buy new hiking boots and a trekking pole. (And be tempted by umpty ump other things.)

So this year's top item on the Thanksgiving list is being thankful for having had the chance to get a new perspective on my home. I still wish I had the sense of attachment to place that some other people do (and, which I think I could have back in New England) but I'll settle for this.

I need to go pack for this week's trip to Boulder so this is a short entry. But I figured it was better to be brief and manage a weekly entry than to only write when I really have time to.