It seemed like an eternity. A multitude of events started, seemingly, so long ago. An accident. The slow recovery. A ten year relationship gone missing. Never to return. Waiting for a payoff, literally, that never reaching the zenith of its promise. Trips back east, that seemed more a tease, with only short term pleasures. It was the loss that brought things into focus. The loss of self. The loss of youth. The loss of love. The loss of home. These were the things that drove me to this place … and my Soul.
Each one of these things informed the other. In a vortex of circumstances, not unlike Dorothy, and her damn little dog, my psyche, my heart and my home were ripped up by their shallow roots and transported to a former place of glory, creativity, peace and prosperity, so many miles away.
Leaving the Emerald City, after a sixteen year adventure, was difficult. Even at its worst moments, in every dark valley of each of those seven magnificent hills, there was something that made me crawl back up and out. Maybe it was my survival instincts. But in the end, with nothing left to lose, I took a three-thousand mile leap of faith. And I landed back in Asbury Park, NJ.
I lived in Asbury Park in 1986. I lived in a storefront on Bond Street, which, by the way, is only blocks from my new apartment on 6th Ave. There are a lot of good memories here that will help feed the ones yet to be made. Asbury is in another “Phoenix … rising from the ashes” phase, like so many times before. But somehow this one seems different. Much more committed. A place for second chances. I’m up for that!
Be It Ever So … Awesome!
As the postcard says:
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