Places

so i just got back from the east coast. it was humid.

walking out of the airport was like climbing from a refreshing pool into a 105 degree hot tub.

i miss the culture and history. Philly is amazing. independence hall. the liberty bell. the constitution museum. different churches and temples over 200 years old. i miss the people. some will complain that the city of brotherly love doesn't live up to its name. but if you compare it side by side with los angeles, it passes with flying colors.

next to L.A., the residents of Philadelphia are kinder, more helpful, more polite, more aware of what's going on around them, they drive better, use their horns less. even New Yorkers seem more compassionate than Angelenos.

i feel like if a New Yorker were honking his horn at another driver, and then were given the opportunity to do anything he wanted to that driver -- he might smack him in the face and say something like "Whaddaya doin' ya friggin' idiot!" and i feel like if the same opportunity were given to an Angeleno, he might club the other driver violently and leave him in the street for dead. but that's just me. that's the vibe i get.

I love New York. everything about L.A. seems pretentious, while NYC seems authentic. the people there are a little less 'polished'. but i mean that in a good way.

i went from the rich history of Philadelphia to the simple country living of smalltown central Pennsylvania to the mecca of modern culture and society of New York City to the affluent suburbs of New Jersey.

being among old college friends felt like being among family. for a minute i remembered who i was back then. i felt a joy i haven't felt for a long time. and though the vast majority of them are married and some have children -- many own houses -- i don't envy that like i thought i would. i mean i'm deeply happy for them -- but i just know that's not where i'm supposed to be right now.

worshipping with my old college church friends at this wedding -- after years of being apart -- was awesome. it's like we never stopped. those wednesday nights in the frizzel room in eisenhower chapel on the Penn State campus in State College in the middle of Pennsylvania -- they just flowed right into last saturday. and last saturday will flow right into this sunday at Oasis . . . in a --(i'd use the word "bittersweet" if it weren't so melodramatic)-- way.

--nmr