Return to Goodbyes
On the way to the airport, I asked the Uber driver to stop at 7 Bedford Place, where I had gone to school. Even though it was a short visit, I wanted to grab a photo with me and the guys. It was important to return with them, as I had said goodbye to the place some 40 years earlier.
It was also important because it was the 5-year anniversary of a day that changed everything. Had that fateful day not happened, we would have been standing in the doorstep.
Six months after that, Oct 25, 2018, I took a spiritual journey along the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was there that I thanked all those that I had recently lost, with a symbolic token, that I tossed into the valley.
It was also there that I sat under a tree and began drawing with a ballpoint pen. It was the birth of Stu Rosen Art. I didn’t know then that it would take me to London, and Beverly Hills; or that it would give rise to the Artists Guild of All Saints.
I am grateful for all the good things that have come out of bad times.
Today, five years after that trek, I will be returning to the Backbone Trail. I’m heading out after I finish this post.
Now, I have a body carved by carbs, and forged by furniture. It can best be described as “Post Modern Couch Potato, with Sour Cream AND Bacon.” I was in much better shape when I did the trail last time. It will be challenging, to say the least, and I plan for it to be its own journey. I’ll take whatever the journey has to offer.
I thought about bringing symbols again this trip but figured that it would just be me trying to relive last time. I go alone (with plenty of water, sunscreen, and snacks!). I’m bringing an extra phone and my sketchbook “just in case”.
I also have to return to Pasadena in the early afternoon, since I’m in charge of Halloween Decorations for the church’s Youth Dinner (because “of course I am”).
While I don’t know what lies ahead, I look forward to it with great anticipation, and a little tinge of dread.
But as I like to say,
“Welcome to Life.”