Juxtapositions

If this is Wednesday, it must be Connecticut.....but actually it's now New Jersey. The Connecticut teachers were wonderful....translation, they were very appreciative and gave me great ratings. Yeah! No one complained that it was cold, no crabby German or Latin teachers, but ---this is a new one--the complaint (a totally legit one) was that the water in the bathroom was scalding hot!

Everything is so close together on the East coast. The rapidly occurring juxtapositions of rural, suburban, urban, rich, poor, industrial and residential assault my mind. We left rural Connecticut and within a half hour were driving through the lush (even with winter's naked trees) Hudson valley north of New York City. Next thing we knew, we were driving through the Bronx approaching the George Washington bridge to cross into New Jersey. As we sat stuck in traffic surrounded by BMWs and SUVs, we saw police officers chase away a man on the side of the ramp holding a sign saying "Homeless Hungry". Just a couple miles to the east was the glitter and excitment of Manhattan.

Travel is funny in that I get caught up in the day's events and really do forget my "real" life....until I get to my next hotel and read my e-mail and call home. The "high" after a successful presentation is followed by my mother's missing clothes still being missing, the life insurance agent having no record of my gall bladder surgery in spite of providing that information several times, the neighbor's daughter needing a dose of Spanish tutoring, "mobility papers" to read about several potential pastoral candidates, and being reminded of serious events in some friends' lives.

I guess life is always an interesting juxtaposition of highs and lows, successes and failures, joys and concerns....all happening at the same time. That very juxtposition, however, is what keeps me sane and grounded. Those who think I'm neither sane nor grounded feel free disagree---and we'll have another juxtaposition!