Half year away

There's two odd things about being away for half the year. The first is how little some things change in six months. The second is how some things change completely.

One thing about living in a backwater, change tends to come slowly. On the surface most change is extremely gradual. A half year isn't long enough to notice.

Then there are the serious changes. People died while we were away. That's always a shocker. Relationships change, which is no surprise in these stressful times. People move. Kids grow. People tend to change faster than things.

Of course, sometimes I think I'm settled in, then turn a corner and see some old landmark has burned to the ground. Not having lived through these things, they come as a surprise.

My lovely wife noticed a local musician was planning at a local lounge. We love live music and the guy's talented, so we stopped in to listen. The guy came over to talk to us between sets. While we were away he quit music. He sold all his guitars and musical equipment. Just before we got back, he decided to get back into it and bought new equipment. There's a case of someone making two major life decisions that canceled each other out. Had he not said anything, we'd have never known.

One thing that I was warned about is that the friends back home will never truly relate to the other half of our lives. There's so much that can't be fully conveyed. They lack the background unless they do it themselves. Anyway, who wants to listen all day to sailor's tales?

For me, the real horror is to discover how many people who've done exactly the same thing, over and over again, for the last six months.

-Sixbears