The Road Less Traveled
29 hours into my trip of purpose, I'm realizing that this may not be so much about being deep as much as it is about dealing with 19 years of claustrophobia. Allow me to explain.
Having moved to Scottsdale in 1999, running my own firm, I worked from home. It was new to me in 1998 when I started my company in NY, with daily trips into the city and a social network based around friends and business associates.
http://burbank.com/column-story/Welcome-to-KlugerTown/The-Future-Is-Now/1468
I was unprepared for Arizona, both in career short-circuiting (I'll explain later) and solitude. Used to being the toast of the town in terms of being out there, I made friends easily here, but was still hemmed in by the four very lovely walls I call home.
Career short circuiting? Scottsdale was not NY which is a double edged sword. The plus being the rat race had one less rat, the negative being where I worked and who I 'had been' was of little interest but this was my new home.I would make the best of it.And I did. Became a regular columnist for 8 years at The Scottsdale Republic, Chairman of the Governor's Film and TV Commission under two Governors, Board Member of the Scottsdale TV Commission and a pr practice not quite on the same monetary level of back East but rewarding in many aspects.
Prior to my trip, and turning 65 had a lot to do with it, Hope came home every night to....me. Sure, great meals, comfortable surroundings, laughs and love. I got bored with me at times. It became time to break the monotony for me. Hope thought it was a good idea. Not that we needed a break-far from it- but this Wandering Jew always loved to wander.
Opposites attract and I often liken my relationship with Hope to that one-panel cartoon, Family Circus of years ago. The character, Jeffy, is shown on a map of sorts-Point A being school, Point B being home. The strength of Hope and I is we look at some things differently.
She tends to go from A to B, except on vacation. There, she is stress-free.
Me? Well, Jeffy left school for home, saw a firehouse and went to pet the dog; then saw a construction site and decided to be a sidewalk superintendent; then he saw a pick-up stickball game and joined in; then stopped by a store to look at the comics-and so on. He made it from A to B, but it's the journey that appealed to him. And that is what has always appealed to me.
Yesterday, my first day, I went to visit an old childhood friend, who moved in 8th grade and his wife in Santa Ana. You know: where the wind comes from. Kinda a 2nd cousin to El Nino and El Nina.
It was like the time had not passed.
The warmth was genuine, the laughs plentiful, the wine spectacular, the home exquisite and the promise not to let time pass, a commitment.
We were 15-year olds in 65 year old bodies, which looked pretty-pretty-pretty good. And the memories intact and an affirmation of why we were friends in the first place. Despite a rattle in my car which he fixed, I was back on the road for a 2 hour, 63 mile ride to Calabasas, to visit my friends Glenn and Eve and their son Toby, who went from 13 year Bar Mitzvah boy to almost 17 year old incoming Senior.
Glenn has always been my conscience. he yells bullshit when he sees it.Well, he doesn't yell but pr people, like their clients, have personas. He and I often strip away the patina and get down to basics, him over wine, me over...what else, a martini. He is an adult friend. I met him in 1987 and we've been friends for over 30 years. He was the chupah holder at my wedding to Hope. We spent my first night grilling, drinking and giving their son his first puff on a cigar of which they gave permission. Glenn has a video of Toby making the mistake of inhaling and there is a slo-motion sequence of drool coming from his mouth. Needless to say, this will be trotted on to every date he brings home.
This morning, I rose about 6 to a text from Hope.Good morning, a heart emoji and my day was off to a good start. Eve who was great at putting some thought provoking questions to me the night before, had brewed a pot of Peets. Being a creature of habit, I drank one but headed over to Starbucks at the Commons to MY Starbucks. No Jennifer Aniston, Liev Schreiber or the other celebs who are often seen. Just me and a Grande' Half Caf.
My first appointment: my old MTV friend Ken Ceizler, who, funnily enough, was not a close friend when I was at MTV. It was only in the past few years we connected. http://burbank.com/column-story/Welcome-to-KlugerTown/YOU-CAN-GO-HOME-AGAIN/1496
The journey continues.
Having moved to Scottsdale in 1999, running my own firm, I worked from home. It was new to me in 1998 when I started my company in NY, with daily trips into the city and a social network based around friends and business associates.
http://burbank.com/column-story/Welcome-to-KlugerTown/The-Future-Is-Now/1468
I was unprepared for Arizona, both in career short-circuiting (I'll explain later) and solitude. Used to being the toast of the town in terms of being out there, I made friends easily here, but was still hemmed in by the four very lovely walls I call home.
Career short circuiting? Scottsdale was not NY which is a double edged sword. The plus being the rat race had one less rat, the negative being where I worked and who I 'had been' was of little interest but this was my new home.I would make the best of it.And I did. Became a regular columnist for 8 years at The Scottsdale Republic, Chairman of the Governor's Film and TV Commission under two Governors, Board Member of the Scottsdale TV Commission and a pr practice not quite on the same monetary level of back East but rewarding in many aspects.
Prior to my trip, and turning 65 had a lot to do with it, Hope came home every night to....me. Sure, great meals, comfortable surroundings, laughs and love. I got bored with me at times. It became time to break the monotony for me. Hope thought it was a good idea. Not that we needed a break-far from it- but this Wandering Jew always loved to wander.
Opposites attract and I often liken my relationship with Hope to that one-panel cartoon, Family Circus of years ago. The character, Jeffy, is shown on a map of sorts-Point A being school, Point B being home. The strength of Hope and I is we look at some things differently.
She tends to go from A to B, except on vacation. There, she is stress-free.
Me? Well, Jeffy left school for home, saw a firehouse and went to pet the dog; then saw a construction site and decided to be a sidewalk superintendent; then he saw a pick-up stickball game and joined in; then stopped by a store to look at the comics-and so on. He made it from A to B, but it's the journey that appealed to him. And that is what has always appealed to me.
Yesterday, my first day, I went to visit an old childhood friend, who moved in 8th grade and his wife in Santa Ana. You know: where the wind comes from. Kinda a 2nd cousin to El Nino and El Nina.
It was like the time had not passed.
The warmth was genuine, the laughs plentiful, the wine spectacular, the home exquisite and the promise not to let time pass, a commitment.
We were 15-year olds in 65 year old bodies, which looked pretty-pretty-pretty good. And the memories intact and an affirmation of why we were friends in the first place. Despite a rattle in my car which he fixed, I was back on the road for a 2 hour, 63 mile ride to Calabasas, to visit my friends Glenn and Eve and their son Toby, who went from 13 year Bar Mitzvah boy to almost 17 year old incoming Senior.
Glenn has always been my conscience. he yells bullshit when he sees it.Well, he doesn't yell but pr people, like their clients, have personas. He and I often strip away the patina and get down to basics, him over wine, me over...what else, a martini. He is an adult friend. I met him in 1987 and we've been friends for over 30 years. He was the chupah holder at my wedding to Hope. We spent my first night grilling, drinking and giving their son his first puff on a cigar of which they gave permission. Glenn has a video of Toby making the mistake of inhaling and there is a slo-motion sequence of drool coming from his mouth. Needless to say, this will be trotted on to every date he brings home.
This morning, I rose about 6 to a text from Hope.Good morning, a heart emoji and my day was off to a good start. Eve who was great at putting some thought provoking questions to me the night before, had brewed a pot of Peets. Being a creature of habit, I drank one but headed over to Starbucks at the Commons to MY Starbucks. No Jennifer Aniston, Liev Schreiber or the other celebs who are often seen. Just me and a Grande' Half Caf.
My first appointment: my old MTV friend Ken Ceizler, who, funnily enough, was not a close friend when I was at MTV. It was only in the past few years we connected. http://burbank.com/column-story/Welcome-to-KlugerTown/YOU-CAN-GO-HOME-AGAIN/1496
The journey continues.
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