Flipping the Narrative

I find it incredibly difficult to switch off or slow down. There’s always something that needs doing - something to pick up - something to wash up - something to put away.

I just forced myself to stop.

I’m now sitting in the junk room with a huge glass of “rejuvenate super smoothie” from the local supermarket. I have no idea if it will work, but I’m forcing myself to drink it.

Nik Kershaw is quietly singing about somebody loving him from the 1998 album “15 Minutes” - one of my favourite albums. I bought it shortly before travelling to California in the summer of 1998, and spending two weeks with my cousin.

We explored up and down the coast, visited theme parks, delivered produce (she had a produce business in the bay area), and even recited Shakespeare in the redwood forests behind her old house - the forests that had once seen Ewoks defend the forest moon of Endor.

I remember listening to Nik Kershaw’s album as we drove through the streets of San Francisco, and down the coast to Monterey and Carmel.

A core memory before life happened.

It all seems like such a long time ago now. A life before parters, children, obligation, and expectation.

I still remember so much - the arrivals hall at San Francisco International, the pool in the condominium complex where my cousin lived, sharing buckets of chicken wings with my Uncle, and going on all manner of adventures in and around the bay. I remember waking up one morning to the local radio telling us that a teenager had been bitten in half by a white shark off Stinson beach.

Anyway.

Here’s hoping the “rejuvinate” smoothie works.

Perhaps I should give my cousin a call. We haven’t caught up in ages.