Gimme a G...

*sigh*

Last week I spoke to the current president of GMSMA. The topic was my Chairman-in-Exile status. Since the season started, I've made exactly one Board of Directors meeting, and one program meeting.

Apparently, some members of the Board are getting snarky. In part, that may be attributable to the fact that the year isn't going well according to most indicators. And the tendency in those situations is for a group to become introspective.

When I spoke with Prez, my thinking was, "Well, I'm finished with welding school, and now I'll be able to plunge back in!" But as the days passed and I mulled it more, I'm not sure how realistic that is.

For one thing, GMSMA meets on wednesday evenings. And my Thursday starts at 5 a.m. Now it would be feasible that I could get off work at 3:30 p.m., dash home, put together dinner for my father and walk the dog, hop in the car at 5pm, drive up to NYC and arrive at about 6:30 p.m., head for the door at 9 p.m., and get home at 10:30, in time to get to bed so I'd be able to get up for work the next morning. However, there are several contingencies here (what if I have to work late? What if my Dad thinks up something that I absolutely have to do before I hit the road?) Delays and cancellations will be common. And spending three plus hours on the road after I've worked a hard day is not a promising prospect. In fact, it could be dangerous.

And there's another aspect to this, too. When I moved down here from NYC, I pictured myself moving into a sort of void. But that's only the Hollywood version of things. In truth, I have more than enough to keep me occupied here. I've met lots of locals. I'm loving spending time with my father. Life in the hinterlands is full and rich and good.

So on balance, I don't know that my irregular at best presence brings much to GMSMA, and I'm not so certain that I have room in my life for the commitment involved.

I'm hoping to make the Holiday Social this Wednesday. I guess I should see how that goes before making any decisions. I could be overstating the case.

But in a larger sense, I have this deep awareness of where my home is. And it's here in Bucks County. This is where my life is going to be playing itself out for the next several years. This is where I belong. This is where I'm happy. Moreso even than when I lived there, NYC is just making me wince. I guess I started to pay too close attention to that man behind the curtain.

And this is the United States America. And it's all about pulling up your tent stakes, loading up the Connestoga, and moving on.

Anyway. More on this.

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