When I began this blog last February, I pontificated to the effect that the past was history, beyond our control. The only events over which we could exert control were the present and the future; therefore, don't fret the past. I then proceeded, over some eighteen blogs, to ruminate on things long past: my hippy days, my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and my foreign service experiences.
Today: back to the present or very recent past. I had made up my mind that, due to declining energy levels, travel was something I could no longer manage. Specifically and painfully I would see my daughter Palesa's apartment in Brooklyn only through emailed pictures. I even thought maybe if I fly it would be easier! My wife, Qenehelo, son Thabie, and daughter, Palesa, all argued that all I had to do was sit in the front passenger seat of the car, tilt the seat back and take a nap. Finally I was persuaded, and by George we made it! And in good shape.
Not only that, I actually tooled around Brooklyn on my two feet. We went to beautiful Prospect Park, across the street from Palesa and Jeff's apartment where we walked to the edge of a lake.
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| Qenehelo and I in Prospect Park |
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| Palesa and me in her apartment |
The next day we went to Coney Island, where the rides were shut, the effects of Hurricane Sandy were still evident but the board walk had lots of traffic. I could hardly believe I was doing this stuff.
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| Thabie at Coney Island |
Then we went to the Botanical Gardens, my personal favorite place where, we borrowed a wheel chair and I tooled around, the energy supplied by Palesa.
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| Here I am tooling around the Botanical Gardens! |
The next day we were off to the Brooklyn Museum, again on my own two feet, African art, ancient Egyptian stone carvings, Rembrandts, contemporary American art. I had had a stereotypical notion of Brooklyn as a place of run down apartments and not much else. Wrong! Botanical gardens, parks, museums, and more. Not the borough I had conceived of. On the next day we walked four or five blocks to an outdoor concert of African music near Metro Tech Center Commons where people were dancing and I struck up an acquaintance with Daryl from Harlem.
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| Music at the MetroTech Commons in Downtown Brooklyn |
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| Here I am with Daryl |
I realize that all this sounds like the tedious scribblings on travel post cards. But the main point was that I was actually doing it. A week earlier I would have said that all this was the stuff of dreams, nothing I could actually do. The lesson for me was that I could do a lot more than I thought I could, thanks to the encouragement of Qenehelo, Thabie, and Palesa. I feel so much better for having gotten out of my chair, gone to Brooklyn and acted like any tourist!
