I went away, just overnight, for my birthday, thinking it would be better to be alone somewhere beautiful than just alone. In the end, it was still fairly lonely. But the things that caught my attention, in that strange sort of mood, were a telling surprise.
I found myself endlessly fascinated watching a small private boating club along the river. Early morning rowing lessons, sleek skinny boats taking off and coming back in, a little scratch of sand for soccer or volleyball, and tables at night, for a relaxed drink and beautiful river view. All seen from a distance, elegant but supremely low-key.
The idea of teaching these lessons at dawn, with energetic kids and dedicated teenagers making the early call, seemed oddly poetic to me, even though in the doing of it, it must be tiring. There are moments of immediate poetry in life, and times when it’s only in the bigger picture. And it’s obvious, but you can’t only ever chase the immediate.
Once you have realized your freedom, you have to figure out what to do with it. Something worthy, however you choose to define it.
