For more than 20 years, I followed a habit strengthened by a weekly trek from my apartment in New York City to a country house in Big Indian, N.Y. Quickly, the three-plus-hours span became a welcomed opportunity to transition from the stress of the workweek and morph, gradually, into the “my time” mode of the weekend.
Despite reminders on the clock and radio, the travel passed quickly. The ride seemed so effortless that I often drove back to the city for a Saturday night’s outing, returning to the house to watch the sunrise with friends accumulated over the previous hours participating in the city’s 24/7 club scene.
From time to time, however, obligations required that I stay in NYC. I felt a sense of discombobulation, not unlike someone with a longstanding exercise routine or running regime might feel. The sense of dis-ease was both physical and mental.
Worse, there were times that I was unable to return for several weeks. By the second or third weekend, however, the call of Big Indian grew less urgent. Staying in the city became easier than getting back in the saddle of my VW Fox. When, finally, I was set to go again, the trip seemed somehow endless. The reality of the miles and time behind the wheel tested my patience and ability to let go and embrace the now of the moment.
I suffer the same fate when it comes to writing. When in the “zone” –- a combination of energy, clear thinking, enthusiasm and focus — I’ve been known to knock out an annual report or position paper in a weekend at the keyboard. That’s the mindset that I brought to the creation of this blog.
Since its inception, I continue to read the blogs of many and varied writers, enjoying the perspective of each. Now and then, I stumble on a blog that has not been added to in months. How could someone let the stream of communications run dry, I ask myself. At times, I considered writing various authors to inquire about the reason behind their lapse. Now, I understand in a way that I did not understand before. Quite simply, life has a rhythm and will of its own, beyond good intentions and desires to act decisively.
Since the holiday season, my own life has been teeming with so many events, demands, changes, decisions, and indecisions -– at home, at work, in the continuum of assorted relationships — that unwittingly I’ve allowed to clog the flow of communication that comes to me naturally.
This extended note is a way to force myself to pull back and let the chaos clear up in the natural course of living, a purposeful push, as it were.
So much continues to add to my excitement about our evolving city. The recent visit by President Obama, the spotlight on GE, Jeffrey Immelt’s selection to head the President’s Council On Jobs and Competitiveness, the positive ramifications of the alliance between Proctors and Capital Repertory Theatre, the ribbon cutting at KeyHall at Proctors, the new Apostrophe Café in Proctors Robb Alley -– the list seems endless and so are the reasons for sharing the growth and rejuvenation our downtown.
I hope to use the coming snow time to gather my thoughts, and then let them flow in periodic bursts into “New Heights, New Horizons.”
Thanks for your patience during some unexpected and involuntary R&R.
Have keyboard. Will write again!
Thom O’Connor lives in Richmondville
