I know Tucson, and I’m still here.
I hear the neighbor’s AC kick on and wonder why I have to endure the noise of their ancient machine. A lonely coyote howls at 11PM. I smell horse manure driving home. I drink water from the tap, even though I know I shouldn’t.
The old neighborhood has changed, for the better. I got my massage there. The road between here and there is better.
Today, I mostly have a lingering stiffness in my lower back. Moves that used to rack my body with pain don’t any longer. I’m on the mend.
Of course, my whole schedule is wrecked, but it has been a good time to be in Tucson. More than my back giving me a vacation, it has given me down time. And time to catch up on my movies. More for my own recollection: The Squid and the Whale, The Constant Gardener, Inside Man, Eight Below, Capote, The Dying Gaul, and, tonight, Rufus Wainwright: All I Want.
I learn more about someone like Rufus Wainwright and feel like I’ve wasted my life.