Relative Something

Last night was the first time all summer that I have been able to sleep under covers. The dew point dropped, the temperature dropped, the air conditioner was turned off, the windows all opened, and a blissful night commenced. What comfort!

Yesterday, I took the bike for a roll during an afternoon showing of the house. Checking with a neighbor, after I returned, he reported the visitors were there for all of 5 minutes. Guess it didn’t take them long to make up their minds.

I discovered that the shop where I had some work done on my bike, didn’t put as much air in my tires as I usually do. Before I headed out, I topped off the pressure, so during yesterday’s jaunt, I felt much more like my old self on the pedals.

It being the first weekend in August, the local Lion’s Club was hosting their annual corn feed in my town. I pedaled up to the park and around the school to check out the scene and see if there were any familiar faces hanging out. On my mind were thoughts of getting the house sold and moving away from this place where I grew up.

I have been slowly cutting ties to my home town. One early step toward that effort occurred when I stopped paying for the local paper. I no longer see the articles about the goings on in our community. It left me unaware that the park where the corn feed is usually held was under renovation and totally torn up. I found the corn feed activity in the community center parking lot. There wasn’t a soul I recognized.

There were plenty of families, most of them with kids much younger than mine. I realized I should be looking for older faces if I was going to find someone I recognized from my past. I coasted through the softball fields that were filled with the energy of a tournament. It felt alienating to see all these people and activity, but have no connection to any of it.

At the high school, I found a large youth lacrosse tournament in progress. It appeared to include teams from around the state. This sport continues to grow in popularity, but since it wasn’t played when I grew up here, seeing all this added to the alienation I felt.

When my kids were in school, one of the primary activities at the end of summer was the marching band. I was startled to find a full-size semi trailer in the school parking lot, painted with the school colors and identified as the Eagles Marching Band. A little further along, I came across another trailer painted up to identify the marching band, but at least this one was the size I remember seeing used. It used to be plain white. Now they need both trailers!

It feels like seasons are changing to me.