On one side of the Atlantic longing for the other.

I was driving back from our latest fieldtrip, to Arcachon, on the Atlantic coast , with Cindy and listening to the radio and the song from the movie; Breakfast Club started to play Don’t you forget about me. And funny enough, I started thinking about the states, that song encapsulated a block of five years in the late 80’s for me. And I realized with alacrity, the importance of the experiences that it held for me. It was a time in my life when I was living in a loft in Boston, and it held a lot of romantic memories. I want to clarify that I’m not talking about relationship types of romantic images, moreover the retrospective collage of friends, experiences, and what it was like to be young and experiencing life. There was an unparalleled music scene in Boston at that time, that a lot of my friends were part of. I was able to have a front row seat and watch history, for that chapter anyhow. It seemed like that old cliché’ where everything tasted better, every shared experience was larger than life, there wasn’t a lot of spending money back then, but life was over the top. My friends were icons to me, we had a pretty magical time. And as much as I have been spending time in France, and loving it, it doesn’t hold a candle to what I’ve had in the states. There are too many instances in my life that will never be supplanted by France, but I know that there is an infatuation with France that has a hold, a promise, a chance at a better quality of life for me and my family. I find myself standing out on the patio, of our rented farmhouse, and looking off to the adjacent field, and they are fertile with promise. I realize, as I’m living over here, that I am consciously aware of how good it is over here. When I was living in Boston, it wasn’t until years later, that the gift of perspective allowed me to see how wonderful my time in Boston was. There is a guaranteed life back in Topanga, there are job offers looming, there is our wonderful house that Cindy and I have remodeled into our dream environment. But there are also fires, traffic, and earthquakes that are ever present. Storm clouds are gathering, my country has dropped to the level where in politics, the hope is for the failure of one party, so the other party can hold up their collective hands and say “These guys failed; so we win” It‘s just that, at that point, no one wins, well the country loses, kind of like the two guys fighting over the steering wheel as they drive off the cliff. I really do not want to write about politics, but it is really something that does effect our sojourn. Being away from the American news and T.V. cycle does let you get out of the constant bickering. I wish for better, the USA deserves alot better, we must be going through a growing spurt. The photo is of me in a WWII german shore defense gun emplacement, that has slid down the dune, like three more inthe area. Like I said , “Don’t you forget about me“.