Friday, August 23, 2013

Bittersweetness

We're back from Yosemite.  It was a very nice trip (aside from the meltdowns and WG's refusal to sleep), but also sad.  We were hiking around on Wednesday, and made it to the top of Glacier Point, where we saw a massive plume of smoke.  Turns out there's a huge wildfire raging near the west entrance to the park.  In Groveland, near where we usually stay.  (This time there were no motel rooms available, so we decided to try a place by the south entrance.  We were lucky, because everyone on the west side is being evacuated.)  The fire got worse last night, going from 5% contained to 2%, and has burned over 150,000 acres so far. Last I checked it hadn't reached inside the park, but that was a few hours ago.

Groveland is a very small town that is pretty much entirely dependent on Yosemite tourism, financially.  Especially this time of year.  Folks are losing their homes AND their livlihoods, and it's just horrible.

But, we're home.  And until tomorrow night, we have the house to ourselves.  I'd forgotten what that was like.  It's awfully nice, and I don't know when it'll ever happen again.
There are a couple of nice homes nearby for sale: small, single-story, would be perfect for us.  However we are NOT prepared to spend over a million dollars on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house on a postage stamp-sized lot, even if we had the money.

Forgive me if I'm grumpier than usual. I've had a lot of time to think lately, and there's a lot I'm not happy with.  There are things that still need changing, and I need the courage to change them. Or to simply speak up in order to bring about that change.
And, as I've mentioned before, the school year needs to start, like, yesterday!  WG goes back Monday, but LG doesn't start until the 3rd.  3 months of Camp Mom is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much!

I'm also realizing fully how stressful I find our current living situation.  And I need to take steps to deal with that, because it won't be changing any time in the near future. It's funny how chronic stress can become so normal you don't even realize it's there.

On a MUCH happier note, I just found out that a friend of mine is teaching Improv at A.C.T in the city.  And since I've been looking for a class, it seems pretty perfect.

Anyway, got to get to bed. I need some sleep!  :)

2 comments:

Geosomin said...

I'm glad you had a nice holiday all things considered. There was a fire up by where my Dad lives and it's taken many years to recover...but it does recover with time. You'd never guess the fire happened now 10 years later...
I try to imagine the bittersweet "yay summer is over"..."boo the summer is over" that happens with kids this time of year. I know working on a university I both love and dread this time of year. Changes are good...
and I bet a little peace and quiet will go a long way to lessening stress at home...

J Graham said...

Sorry it's been stressful! But sounds like school starting up will help, and there's something about fall that's invigorating and conducive to new insights and experiments and growth.

At least I'm hopin'!