12.6.08 - 97/365

leaving for the memorial service of the mother of one of my nursery school friends
susie and i were in school together from almost 4 till almost 18
we haven't seen each other much as adults
(she lives in the boston area)
but we went to each other's weddings
and we have stayed in touch.

sonia, her mother, was a remarkable woman;
a social worker, a mentor, an author, an administrator,
a women processing extraordinary generosity, wit, directness and concern.
and she was the first adult to treat me like a person not a child
at a very young age
and this had great meaning to me.

so i left my very new home in brooklyn,
to go back into the upper eastside world of my childhood
to meet up with my mother
to see people i hadn't seen in a very long time

the streets of my childhood have changed
they have become even more opulent
more shiny, more luxe, more monied
and coming from brooklyn
these changes were magnified

but on reaching my destination
i was returned to the world of my childhood
except as an adult
and it was a strange space to be in
seeing my mother, childhood friends, their mothers and their children,
remembering and catching up.
bouncing back and forth between
who i was then and who i am today
and i suppose confronting
that the main difference
is only age

and then i left
and went to visit another friend
and her young daughter
i went crosstown and downtown
to another totally changed area of the city
where i had spent much of my young adult life

going back home on the subway
when usually i am on my bike
and concentrating on the physical challenges of getting home
but it was late & snowing
and so i had the time & space to reflect,
to see my worlds start merging
and i felt a little overwhelmed
it wasn't the geographical distance traveled
it was the chronological



it was a very complicated day