A Chance to Hit the Town

Dearest Rachel –

For all that, when I’m wandering around some foreign land (or even just another city here in the States – the last time I caught myself saying this was when Daniel and I were crisscrossing Boston), I find myself thinking that I should devote a little more attention to the sights of the city barely twenty miles away from home. By definition, we have a world-class city practically in our backyard, and we never bother to do the whole tourist thing and actually visit the place.

Granted, some of that may come from the whole idea that familiarity breeds contempt. The fact that it is so close at hand somehow renders it less than special. The thought is, we could go there at just about any time we wanted to; we just don’t, even as I’ve wandered half of the rest of the globe in your absence. It’s probably the outgrowth of what I’ve described as the continuum between the exotic and the mundane; the stuff that happens to be within reach falls on the latter end of that sliding scale, causing us to eschew it for what we would consider exotic, and thus draws our attention. But even as we take that ‘exotic’ in, we’re perfectly conscious that the locals there are just a bored – and ignorant – of what they have in their own backyard over there.

Only in this case, we’re the ignorant – and I mean that in terms of ignoring what’s out here, not a matter of any lack of knowledge – locals who don’t realize what we have here. Oh, Daniel and I are more than willing to revel in the fact that we have a ridiculous amount of variety when it comes to shopping and cuisine, but much of the variety we indulge in comes from those same Asian cultures that we make plans to visit in the near and distant future (and I mention this particularly because I’ve finally made the arrangements for a three-day hotel stay after next March’s trip, along with the airfare to get there and back). We don’t quite have the same appreciation for the truly local stuff as someone from outside might when they first arrive here, wanting to see and know the best and most significant of the place.

Well, the other day, the group chat came alive with a couple of suggestions from the girls, one of which would have addressed that (the other happened to be for a ‘trivia night’ to take place in mid-January, but which apparently needed reservations made this far in advance – and to think, there are pubs in the area that literally do this on a weekly basis. But hey, if the girls are suggesting it, I’m game; it’s so rare that they make these suggestion, although who knows if this will change now that Ellen is freed from the responsibility she took on earlier this year by moving her mother into her new condo). It happens that there is yet another major run taking place downtown, and Erin had gotten Kerstin interested in participating – although not to the same degree as herself; while she plans to run the 15K taking off early Sunday morning, Kerstin would be participating in the two-mile walk along the lakefront.

I’m not sure which of them came up with the idea of throwing it open to the group. Maybe Kerstin wanted someone to ride out with her; maybe Erin thought someone (or some ones) could be persuaded to join (particularly since there are some distances which would compare to my usual workout in many respects). She even had special discounts that a returning participant could offer newcomers like us, if we decided to enroll.

It would definitely be something different to do of a weekend, and it would be a chance to hit the town in a way that not a lot of things could. For all that there are various events going on downtown in the city proper all the time, the fact that something is going on that the others want to go to – and would like to see me at, along with them – makes it more than a little tempting. True, it’s not so much straight-up sightseeing as just getting together in a different venue, but it is getting us to go to such a venue, and that’s something in and of itself.

But somehow, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

The irony is that, when it comes to weekends, I feel like I have commitments that I shouldn’t just abandon. You understand; when we were down in San Antonio on our last trip before the world shut down, you made a point of looking up a church that we could go to on Sunday morning. While I don’t go to that level of effort when I’m traveling these days (to be fair, our church has its livestream that wasn’t a thing back then), here in town, it seems irresponsible to skip out just to get together like this, even if I’m not assigned to work the booth this weekend. And while I could just attend on Saturday evening so as to free up my Sunday morning, that would mean that I wouldn’t be there to see my folks when they make their appearance. It may be a little perfunctory, but it’s important in its own way that I be there when they are.

So I felt compelled to turn the girls down. I’m not sure it was the best thing I could do, but I think it may have been the better thing, at least for me. It didn’t help that Daniel wasn’t enthusiastic about going – and when I mentioned it to the folks, they weren’t exactly supportive of my going, either. That, or they sensed the reluctance I already had about it, and decided to give it that extra nudge they may have thought I needed to say no.

I do hope Erin does well on the 15K; I know she has other people out there with her, including a college friend coming in from out of town (who she has to pick up at the airport on Saturday, I understand). So she won’t be alone out there running through the scenic parts of the city for the second time this month. As for Kerstin, she knows where to find either of us, come Sunday morning; I’m not forcing her to choose one way or another. I don’t know if my decision will affect hers, but it’s not meant to; I’m just deciding what I think is right for me. It occurs to me that these community commitments may contribute to my lack of actual sightseeing in my ‘home’ city – the things I ‘have’ to do of a weekend preclude me from any weekend activities in the city itself – but that’s how it goes. It’s a matter of priorities and faithfulness; it’s not required of everyone, but for me, it’s preferable.

Anyway, that tells you about what I’m doing – and not doing – this weekend, honey. In the meantime, keep an eye on me (and Erin, and Kerstin… heck, just watch over the whole group, if you can), and wish us all luck. We’re going to need it.