Moved to (the) Asia

The Asia

I have been absent from my blog for the past several weeks because I have been moving. I "finished" my move on Easter from the apartment that/which (I have yet to master how to decide between those two words) was my residence for 11 years. I relocated about 55 miles north to a place that is about a mile from my son, Richard, and my former wife, Lynn.

My new apartment is in a building called "Asia" (see picture above). It is a couple blocks from the town center. I have "downsized" from a 2-bedroom apartment to one bedroom. Because of all the "stuff" that has accumulated over the years, it will be some time before I am actually "finished" with my move. In reality, I never finished moving into my former residence: I had 4 boxes in my bedroom that I never got around to unpacking until the last day (now they are condensed into 2 boxes); plus I had a whole storage unit in the basement filled with boxes of stuff (my "Fabs" collection and other "treasures"). As I was moving this stuff (funny how it gets heavier as one gets older), I remarked that what was once thought of as gold is now really just lead (weight).

During the move, I got rid of a lot of my "stuff" (see George Carlin's monologue about stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac ). But I still have a lot to winnow: books, movies, music, work files, job search records. Lynn says she could solve this dilemma very quickly, that it's my choice to drag this out. And she's right (of course!).  But such drastic action confronts the issue of identity: if I dispose of all my stuff, then who am I (because one is a reflection of one's stuff)? This is the gist of one of life's eternal conundrums: who am I? what does my life mean? where am I headed?

Jesus addresses this issue in the well known pericope about the rich [young] man (Mt 19:16-26; Mk 10:17-27; Lk 18:18-27). His answer is similar to Lynn's: "Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor."

Back to my move. I am still employed, still have my same job as a fire and life safety engineer. But now the office is 85 miles away. Obviously, a new job closer to home would be better.

The contact info I emailed on March 12th is (still) valid. If you lost it or can't find it, contact me (ha ha).