BIG WEEKEND! in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

Would love to write a brilliant article about the weekend; but not sure if I have the energy.
(1) Even driving into Omaha; Wife finally began to understand what I’d been dealing with the first two months of this whole thing. Because driving in… she started saying, “Just seeing this amount of buildings, and traffic, and life… I already don’t want to go back.” And I reminded her I had to do that drive every weekend… and then leave Omaha with her still there, to go back to the Shit Shack, with no cable or internet, and no bed. So, while I thoroughly understood her viewpoint, it was good that she was starting to understand mine.

(2) Perhaps the most surprising thing of all? I learned something… strange… about myself. It was like a switch turned on… as soon as I saw people of different races and different outward signs of religious expression… I felt WORLDS more comfortable. Apparently, I am one of the few people in this world that canNOT feel comfortable or relaxed in a racially homogenized environment. GIVE ME diversity! I need it! There are hundreds of different races in the world… I need to run across at least TWO per day to feel at ease.

(3) Pathfinder went awesomely! Really… a great match all around.

(4) Then Wife and I explored Downtown Omaha. LOTS of walking, LOTS of sweating. LOTS of experiencing people. Oh, God, how I miss being surrounded by people. And here’s the thing of it… in a town of 2,000… you either know everyone and have to deal with everyone’s bullshit.... or you know nobody and everybody is happy to keep it that way. In the places where I’m from? There are circles of influence. People you know well, people you’re acquainted with, people you recognize, and people you don’t know. And so, while I may have a bit of a chat with an acquaintance; I don’t have to know or care about every detail of their life. I love the idea of optional anonymity. Love it. Miss it. Miss people. *AND because this is just who I am… along with diversity of race and religion… diversity of fashion! Such a thing, man. All kinds of fashion on all kinds of body types… some people pulling it off, some not. BUT… variation, option, diversity. These are wonderful things that, apparently, I desperately need in my life.

(5) Then Wife and I hit up Beercade again. Nice, but certainly much more expensive when the games aren’t free!

(6) Went to an awesome Alamo Event: The Road Warrior. Some people were in costume, it was cool.

(7) Today, we spent about 3 hours in Lauritzen Gardens… a huge gigantic collection of gardens stretching across 100 square acres. LOTS of walking, LOTS of sweating, but fun. And… in a city of 500,000 plus tourists… I still managed to run into an old Law School colleague. And that’s what I’m talking about! No city is ever too large to prevent familiar or friendly encounters. There are, certainly, cities TOO SMALL for that, though. And this is certainly one of them. Especially as we are (1) outsiders (2) with education and (3) the prosecutor.

(8) Long drive back, and here we are. A whirlwind weekend with lots of fun. And more steady reminders… we need a place that WANTS to be alive… a place that isn’t simply allowing itself to die and not caring. It is like… a city that wants to live, goes out of its way to thrive… it feeds that energy back to people to keep that energy going. A city that wants to die, goes out of its way to prevent change, adapt to the times, and/or stops new businesses from entering.... it drains the energy of its people; a kind of aura proud to declare “No Future Allowed!”