{"id":22804,"date":"2021-12-24T13:43:09","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=22804"},"modified":"2021-12-24T13:45:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:45:57","slug":"life-island-times-seven-straight-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/life-island-times-seven-straight-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Life & Island Times: Seven Straight Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Marlow and W return from a week on the road, seven straight days experiencing life on the rails and on the street in today\u2019s America. You might want to call it \u2018Home for the Holidays,\u201d or an \u201cOde to Joy,\u201d but on this day, a very special one, let us thank our lucky stars that we are who we are, and can still live the way we wish. Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

– Vic<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s Note: As the morning sun rose over our southbound train this past Friday, a section of uneven track bed jostled our car causing a few light taps upon our compartment\u2019s windowpanes by our Christmas lights which made me turn to the window. Surface fog had begun to rise from the fields and streams that laced South Carolina\u2019s still green, patchy marsh and farm landscape. I sleepily watched these mists — the spreading, very light diaphanous fog gave me the sense that it could all disappear in an instant. I like it felt provisional, temporary.<\/p>\n

Our neon lights time had come to an end. The fog continued growing and thickening as we slowly crept into another village and passed a lonely churchyard and its cemetery. The rising mists began to drift and cover crooked crosses and tilting headstones as well as the spears of the cast iron entrance gate. By the time we rolled into Savannah\u2019s station, the fog had lifted and been washed away by a light rain that ceased as we glided to a smooth stop\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nFoggy morning Savannah River homeward bound crossing<\/p>\n

I was struck as I descended from the train by the thought that our NYC interlude had been an ode to joy, allowing us to put aside the CovidLand desperation we all fled. The richness of our friendships, some stretching back almost 50 years, came into sharp focus and made our shared abundance more profound than anything that we\u2019ll later find under our holiday decorated fir trees.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all back home after seven starry days and nights of bright Christmas time city lights. It was compressed, compelling and rejuvenating. The nights most times were more alive and richly colored than the days. It was a powerful redemptive flight from the desert for most of us into a modern-day version of ancient Egypt . . . we had a blast in NYC and will return for another!<\/p>\n

– Marlow<\/p>\n

Seven Straight Days<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For seven straight days
\nWe had no obligations
\nOur minds were a blur
\nWe sure knew what to do
\nWillingly we lost ourselves
\nNo one lost their motivation
\nBack home we\u2019re cruising ’round our cities
\nJust waiting for the time to come
\nFor another seven straight . . .<\/p>\n

For seven straight days
\nWe couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces
\nSo we dressed up in some clean clothes
\nAnd headed off somewhere else
\nNone was clueless there
\nNo meta, simulated wood or bad liquid grain
\nEach night we pulled up a chair
\nAnd had one more drink for ourselves
\nFor seven straight . . .<\/p>\n

We all made it through
\nNo matter what it took
\nOh we want once again to make it back and through
\nAnother seven straight days<\/p>\n

Now we lay down for a while
\nLike long ago when we woke up upon the ocean
\nFloating on that all-powerful elephant\u2019s back
\nAnd staring at the gray
\nNever was it completely still
\nExcept the longing of our hearts
\nFor a place to bring us back to life
\nFor seven straight days
\nSeven straight . . .<\/p>\n

Seven straight days
\nSeven straight days<\/p>\n

Till then . . . we have photos to keep us company and tell us different — don\u2019t want to feel this:
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

PS: We returned to our home where a neighborhood feral cat we are fostering awaited us. Despite the concierge services we left behind for her care, petting and feeding each day, her attitude about our NYC visit said it was not enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBad attitude Barbie<\/p>\n

Copyright 2021 My Aisle Seat
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Marlow and W return from a week on the road, seven straight days experiencing life on the rails and on the street in today\u2019s America. You might want to call it \u2018Home for the Holidays,\u201d or an \u201cOde to Joy,\u201d but on this day, a very special one, let us thank our lucky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22811,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22804\/revisions\/22811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}