|
9 March 2004 navigating the high seas |
|
|---|---|
|
|
previous chapter back to index next chapter
Chapter 2: Hasty Goodbyes Before Terminal Velocity (March 9)
I just said goodbye to Jinx today. We attended one of Jim's chemistry lectures (introduction to human evolution) went for a refreshing surf on a warm, sunny spring afternoon, and then he made some fresh tacos to replenish our blood sugar. I'm glad to have found time for today, in light of all the preparations that have been monopolizing my time lately.
Jinks was laid off from the publishing company last week so he, too, is at a turning point in his life. This Thursday he is taking advantage of his severance package and unemployment benefits (lucky bastard, I wish I had been laid off!) to go to Hawaii for a few weeks. The new environment will give him a chance to calm his mind and think about his life in perspective, get some ideas as to what to do next. Or at least to fully undo all the damage that working for a corporation for so many years has done to his psyche. (That's an easy task... barely two weeks out of Cubic I barely remember what I even DID there!)
So we suddenly have a lot in common and it was a fantastic afternoon to discuss it all. At the end of it all were a hug, a handshake, a few words to the affect of "congratulations and good luck" and I was out.
What does this all have to do with skydiving? Well, with the reality of our departure date just 16 days away, you can imagine that my life is in a state of controlled chaos. There is so much for me to do before I can justify leaving town and the stress that I won't finish it all in time is beginning to mount. The upside of this, however, is it leaves little time for me to sit around and get teary-eyed about the massive change in my life coming up on me like a semi speeding down the Grapevine. I'm leaving behind family, friends, and irreplaceable memories of this place I've called home for 16 years.
I've never enjoyed long, drawn-out goodbyes. It's not the farewell session that I'll remember about Jinx anyway. Rather, it's the summary of my memories of him that I'll carry with me. It makes no sense to squeeze every last minute I can out of him, since if I've already spent enough time with him to make it worth saying goodbye at all, then a few extra hours of sniffling and discomfort aren't going to help much anyway!
Besides, Jinx and I will see each other again some day. And if not, at least it was a good run.
|
Leaving
town in a hurry is a bit like
your first skydive. The instructor
strapped to your back KNOWS you're going to hesitate if he gives you
a chance... if you have more than thirty nanoseconds to stare into that void and
ponder the event you are about to commit to, you don't stand a chance of doing
it at all. Jumping out of a flying airplane is, after all, an extremely
counterintuitive decision, and your
hard-wired knowledge of physics will stab your psyche repeatedly until it
promises not to do anything rash. Instead, the instructor conducts
everything very methodically and quickly, ONE TWO (fling open door) THREE JUMP!
and then before your logic system can even calculate what just happened you are
floating on air, happy as a clam.
The instructor on my back has begun the countdown
and mostly what occupy my mind are the machinelike need to finish my task list
and the occasional unscheduled blast of excited anticipation. Saying my
goodbyes is easy, since I don't really have the time or resources to devote to
getting sentimental about them. I like it this way, and I highly recommend
doing it like this if you are in the same situation.