September 20, 2004
Shalimar
Friday marked the first time I was able to work from home in the new place. It all went pretty well, and my office phone forwarding to my VoIP phone forwarding to my cell so I can go out to lunch with Tara and not miss a single call is sweet.
The weekend turned out to be cool, hinting at Fall which is only a few short days away. The fans were packed, the windows were closed and I began looking forward to my annual Ray Bradbury-a-thon in October.
For the third Sunday in a row we headed over to Shalimar for the Sunday brunch. We usually meet up with Lakshmi, but we showed up late today (as she was pulling away) and missed her. Trevor goes off and plays with Tutu (the owners son) and we get a great, cheap meal.
I came home and spent a stangely pleasant hour or so this afternoon sorting out all the wires/cables/connections in our bedroom. Things are starting to look a bit more settled, not all the way there yet but closer.
Oh and last but not least, my car (picture coming soon) broke down on Thursday night. I was heading to Burlington after two days in Shelton, CT and it began to sputter. I pulled over in Sharon, VT to see what was up, and the care refused to start again.
I was pretty annoyed at the situation as I waited for the AAA tow truck to arrive, but in retrospect perhaps it was all for a reason. The owner of the Sharon Country Store was nice enough to make me a sandwich even after the deli was closed, and let me use her phone. She said that she would hate for me to go hungry while waiting. We chatted a bit after she cleaned up the store about where I was from and where I was headed. Nice lady.
The tow truck driver (James) and I chatted on the way home about his newborn daughter, his wife and golf. Even though I was at least ten years or more younger than him, my experiences with Tara and Trevor gave me the perspective to be able to offer him some advice on the first two subjects.
We were clearly two very different people, but he seemed to really perk up when I started telling him about what it was like for me as a new Dad, and how Tara and I dealt with the changes in our lives. When Ta picked me up, she gave me a hug and offered simpathy for my troubled evening. Instead of being grumpy, hostile and annoyed I was refreshed, energized and peaceful. Perhaps I was meant to meet these people, and spend some time in Sharon. Regardless of which, the stop gave me time to clear my head and focus.