So many people have contacted me through Facebook lately.  Its strange to relive some of that; sometimes to be forced to.  Tessa wrote me recently.  I lived with her for a bit at Ein Gedi…in 1997 I think it was.

Here is what she said:

so i have been thnking a lot lately bout ein gedi etc, it was a long time ago now!! gemm has beautifaul photos of kids, have you children yet?? life in uk, ok, but not spent much of my “adult” life here. where are you now? how do you remember those days? take care tessaxx

My response:

Tessa,
Ha!  Feeling a little nostalgic lately?

Hmm…”How do I remember those days?”

I guess I don’t really for the most part (except when you send me an email and it makes me think about it).  Those years seem disconnected from my current life, like they don’t apply.  Its almost like I disappeared for 5 years or so….on another planet.

Every once in a while I’ll see something on TV, and think “I was there once; there is a great restaurant I ate at just around the corner”, but it seems very distant.

The memories are nice, but they are also hard to live with since life will never be as new and exciting as those years were.  You are only young and conquer the world once.  I’ve come to accept that.

I live in Atlanta, GA.  I play tennis.  I like to drink fancy beers.  I am an HR Consultant.  I own a house, and hang out with my friends.  I love my mom and my sister; don’t get along so well with my dad.  I complain and get sad sometimes, but I’m very fortunate.

That’s it.  The story there doesn’t really include “and for 5 years I hit 30+ countries, learned to speak another language, sailed the Mediterranean, saw the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, Petra, Machu Picchu, trekked the Himalaya, rode camels in the Sahara, blah, blah, blah, etc.”  Those things are interesting bar stories and come up sometimes, but it just doesn’t apply to most things I do.

I love those years…in a crazy way.  Its something no one can take away and it will always make me a little special.  If I had worked those years like my friends, I would have a little more money now; I might be married, but I would never have ice climbed on a glacier in Patagonia.

And yes…Gemma’s kids are cute, and no, I don’t have any kids.  I’m not married.

Thanks for the nostalgia,

Elliott

Oh well.  I think I’ll go back to my wine and Monday nights on HDNet.

……………………….To understand me, you must understand this.

The last month hasn’t been the best.  I’ve been working at least one day each weekend and 60+ hours each week; I’ve been back and forth to the West coast twice.  I have early morning calls with India and evening calls with the West coast.  I’m just tired.

I have work on my house I have to do, but I can’t get time.  I have to stain my deck, put up a light, pressure wash the side of my house, and paint my shutters.

I’ve talked about all this before; in fact…..the feeling that I go from one thing to the next, never resting….probably describes most of the US.  I should stop complaining.

Regardless, it is bad for your health.  Stress isn’t so bad, but long hours, a lack of exercise, and spotty sleep do take their toll…especially lack of exercise.  I don’t have time to play tennis; those two hours in the evening I used for exercise are now taken up by work or chores or whatever.

On another note, I went to see the Indigo Girls in concert last night.  They are really one of my favorite bands, and I’m happy to report they are simply awesome in concert….perfect.  Its amazing that so much sound can come from two guitars and two voices.  I loved it.

Hopefully in the next few weeks things will return to normal…whatever that is.