All three of us were born in Jersey and have lived here all of our 101 years in total. I studied both my undergrad and graduate classes in state and worked/lived here ever since. The 6-½ weeks away was the longest stretch that any of us has ever spent out of state EVER. Jersey runs deep in our blood and it has been motherland, a place of sacred memories.
Upon landing in Newark there was a surprisingly unfamiliar, unsettling feeling and stillness. As we stepped outside air bathed us with a chill and that New Jersey “je ne sais quoi” quality. We made the drive home with our trusty ex-employee Max. Although we have taken this route with him back from the airport on numerous occasions, this was the first time the conversation was not an immediate return to realism with a briefing of all things PAMA business related. Usually we hit the ground running, being catapulted directly into reality with little time for niceties. On this day there were moments of stillness, chuckles, and small talk.
Once we were on our own in the car Rick and I exchange our feelings and commiserate about our outlooks of feeling like strangers in a strange land. Fittingly, turning on the radio the words blare and resonate, “Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won’t you please, please help me?”
Upon stopping in our familiar grocery store for a coffee and rations it was a surreal feeling like when a spirit passes to another world and is walking amongst this world unrecognized, unacknowledged. The world around us, zooming and flurring as our bodies glide through seamlessly untouched. Leaving the parking lot and SCREECH………. Time speeds up and we are brought to reality when a Jersey driver ran a stop sign, almost ramming us in a T formation as we turned in front of him. OM, OM, and OMG, with a shiver the Jersey Girl in me takes back my body. Giving the appropriate “What the Hey?” question mark arm gesture (no, not a hand gesture I am a lady after all) we were greeted and acknowledged by a horn and reciprocal gesticulation of disapproval, no sign of acknowledging his error. Immediately brought back to our bodies and reality. As a story a teacher of ours once shared it is easy to mediate in stillness and calmness. Now try it while sitting in a half lotus with a sharp, pointed rock under your rump.
What the F, welcome back to Jersey and yes, STOP signs are a mere suggestion.
Living Wherever We Are 