Same job, different uniform.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

girlfriday: of beltways and belties

Do you find yourself drifting between the exhilarating whirl of the city and the self-abandon of the country?

I love them both. Holding elevators for executives; absorbed in the micro-universe of the lunch line; brushing shoulders with strangers; crowding around a table in a fashionable restaurant, gorging on pasta and drowning in wine; inhaling the intoxicating mixture of diesel, heat and the disconcerting proximity to the car beside you.

Cut away to acres of blue flax spread flat and wild across the vanishing dreams of aging farmers. Nestled in the trenches of the neighboring corn field, a fox I've seen once, through the dim lense of my headlights, lives and feasts off Grandma's hens. Down the lane a family of an Osprey nests atop a powerline. Blissful paradox. She flies away from the nest as I near. I linger. She won't return until I've moved on.

A cow escapes and trots foolishly down a backroad.

The others watch. I wonder if they're afraid to be on the outside. Or if they're wordlessly rooting for the escapee.

Sunsets are savored from Elizabeth's patio or shared with friends on the porch. When it's cold we sip coffee until our head swims.

Further out, Snowy Egrets preen on federally-protected wetlands.

The worlds collide when, on the dusty back road near the county line or shoved between a semi and a Lexus on the George Washington Parkway, an almost imperceptible wave reveals that we are kindred spirits.

Exhilaration is finding energy, and strangely, peace, in both worlds.


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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...




The funny thing about Boise is how close you are to the country. Drive a mile from Wal-Mart and you're looking at farms, just a couple miles away from the huge Wells Fargo and US Bank buildings downtown.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

 
Blogger girlfriday said...




I love that about Boise.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...




I've heard Boise is a cool city. An old buddy of mine moved someplace near Boise. haven't spoken to him in a long while but last I heard he was living in an old church and was rough-cutting lumber from timber.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

 
Blogger Lois E. Lane said...




Sighhhhhhh. Some of the most beautiful writing I've heard in a long time ... thank you for sharing it!

Thursday, August 31, 2006

 

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