Onederlust Tour 6/22: Indianapolis, Short and sweet

Indianapolis, short and sweet, less is more!

   I had a brief but short time staying with my dear Indianapolis friends!  My bus ride was much longer than I'd expected, 8 hours, having been stuck in traffic!  At that point, Megabus decided it would no longer allow my blogging page on their wi-fi network and so I wrote 9 pages of memoir for the blog of the week prior without anywhere to put it.  In the mean-time I also listened to a ton of music, all of which I recommend:

Tarkio - "Omnibus"

Sleep Bellum Sonno - "Judge us by how we lived our lives not how we made our living"

Muse - "The Resistance"

Tom Waits - "Frank's Wild Years"

     

At last, in the afternoon, I arrived in Indianapolis!  The sunlight and warmth was a much preferred contrast to the snowy mid-February Indy that Alexa and I had bundled and trudged through last year.  My friend Aaron picked me up within minutes of my phone call, thankfully! He'd hosted Alexa and I along with some other friends I'd have the pleasure of seeing, namely Rachel.   It was a sweltering afternoon and the cool air conditioning of Aaron's car on the sidewalk was a welcome experience.  Aaron is a sweet and mellow guy, with a good, harmless sense of humor, a ready smile and eager to help at a moment's notice.  He asked if I was hungry and the minute I expressed interest in something cold to quench my thirst, perhaps a milkshake, he rattled off ideas and was immediately about where to achieve that goal.  We ended up at a really interesting ice cream place called Sub Zero, ice cream selections that are made in front of you, with the cream, and milk bases and flavors mixed in and then frozen made to order utilizing liquid nitrogen!  I got an almond milk based with chocolate and malt flavors (which combines to make the ice cream) and then almond topping and it was delicious.  The consistency was a bit more like a sorbet because the almond milk doesn't freeze the way that creams and yogurts do, so it offered an added new experience!

    We went to Aaron and his roommate's new house, which was a duplex in a beautiful old place with lots of wood floors and creaky stairs and old interesting furniture.  Kerri and Amanda were no longer living in Indianapolis, and Rachel didn't live with Aaron anymore, but I met Aaron's new roommate and friend Alex.  We all got along famously, as I entered the backyard, I saw a chicken pen, a fire pit, an awesome old bike with a delicious mint plant growing in it, and Alex playing ukulele.  This whole house was my kind of vibe!  It's houses and environments like these that make me wonder what it'd be like to live outside of Long Island, given that the affordability back home is nil.  Alex and Aaron and I were laughing and sharing jokes and stories and building a fire, Rachel and her boyfriend Christian came over and we caught up as well.  Aaron pointed out that there was a boysenberry tree (initially mistaken as a mulberry tree, which, I joked, was in fact the the famous bush around which the monkey chased the weasel) so we climbed it and harvested some juicy and subtle boysenberries in a bowl.  I went inside to take a shower and wash the travel muck off of me, then met up with everyone around the beautiful blazing bonfire.  Among this small and beautiful family of friends I shared some new poems and stories, around the campfire.  We soon moved from the a capella display around the campfire to the deck where we plugged in some music and I performed songs from all over my catalog until the bugs became too much and it grew late, the fire dying down as well as our energies.  After some more conversation, Rachel and Christian went home, saying our goodbyes and exchanging hugs and best wishes!  Aaron and Alex and I spoke some more about music and silly things and so on, and we all retired for the night, saying our goodbyes as we mightn't cross paths in the morning!

     It is so incredible to me that after only meeting several people for a few hours, and then seeing them a year later for another meager amount of time, we can connect so sincerely, warmly and like family.  I loved them all the more for it, and retired for the night with a smile on my face, my lids shut heavily and good dreams.  I woke customarily early and made myself an egg sandwich with fresh chicken eggs and ham and cheese and ate outside on the deck listening to the chickens cluck and bird sing.  There was that lingering smokey reminder of the fire the night before, and I smiled while watching the squirrels chase each other playfully in spirals down the trees.  As I sampling the remainders of the berries Aaron and I had plucked, I felt at home, and carried an inspired heart with me several blocks to my bus stop, where I waited for a bus at 10 am that departed for Chicago, less than 24 hours after arriving in beautiful friendly little Indianapolis!  Feeling so much stronger and human for the experience.  If less is more, then my regrettably brief visit to Indianapolis is an excellent example of that. 

It's not the duration of time you have but how you spend it.

-AllOne