Times like these

I am wearing a shirt I exchanged with a young baker in London a few years ago. There is a story behind how I came to exchange my t-shirt with that of a young baker in London, but that is not the point of this post.

No, the point of this post is accomplishment. On some level, I guess, charming the shirt off of a young baker in London is something of an accomplishment, although again, that is not the point. Being in London is the point. Walking the streets of foreign lands. Being a small part of a new culture. Having dinner in a cafe without the ability to understand the menu, nor order a meal, trusting the young baker on a selection worthy of a night out in a strange land.

I have a long running fantasy that plays endlessly like a broken loop inside my head. I am laying on a beach in Italy, the sun is squarely overhead, I am dark and sweating, out of the ocean a beautiful perfect body appears and approaches, Australian I would learn, carrying an ice cold beer, for me no less.

I have never been to Italy.

Then again, my own father had never been to London.

I called my brother last week, breathlessly, because quite honestly, I had been punched in the face and I thought I might need reinforcements. If we are lucky in life, we all have siblings with characteristics that we would like as our own. My brothers sense of calm in almost all situations is one I wish I could borrow. I told him of my most recent tango with a hurricane and he was quiet for a second, and then he asked what could he do to help.

I think, in the midst of any sort of traumatic drama, the only thing one really wants to hear is "what can I do to help."

I had a Chaucer professor in college, who sadly enough, was teaching Shakespeare and because his knowledge of Shakespeare was equal to my knowledge of professional hockey, the class was kind of a bore. Except when we tried to figure out the use of the garden as a metaphor. I forget at this point what brilliant concept we all agreed upon, suffice to say, Chaucer would have been proud. There may have been a point here, but it is lost on me at this time.