Library Notes: November 25th, 2022
Notes from the Road…
We have been traveling this week for Thanksgiving as it was also an opportunity to introduce my son to his great-grandparents. While that experience in itself is worth a short essay, life with a three month old on the road has had little time for reading or writing.
Still we had our first father-son World Cup moment watching Mexico play Poland. We don’t watch much TV at home but I enjoy seeing my son reacting not only to the game on the television but the energy in the room. He is clearly a Memo Ochoa fan.
Family reunions have been proving grounds for stories and a reminder of why I enjoy reading and writing as I grow older. This year was the first I went into these ruckus gatherings with a lens on how stories were told. Stories about my uncle who everyone in the room had to stop and add an anecodote. Stories from my wife’s cousin that came under a hushed tone as soon as a local dispensary and edibles came up. The best story may be my little niece strolling through her grandparents garden asking me if she could eat the lettuce. I of course told her yes not realizing her two year old mind was not considering the difference between could and should. She leaned over the raised planter bed with mouth wide open, diving head first into a head of lettuce.
Stories tend to shift towards our hopes as the evenings wear on. My wife’s cousin married a woman from Uganda, and we dream up our future four month vacation with them to the continent of Africa. The inevitable questions are brought to me, if I will take a group to Mexico to tour the capital and the country side. We of course must sample mezcal and I watch as everyone’s eyes glimmer at the thought of tasting molletes.
I didn’t want to publish this. My library notes were originally conceived as a record of readings from the solitude of my studio. I didn’t see this evolving into a place where I would publish essays, notes, and a mixtape of thoughts like this one you’re reading now.
I didn’t want to lose the momentum of writing, publishing, and writing again. Even on a three thousand mile roadtrip with a three month old, I wanted to prove to myself there would not be an excuse great enough to stop me.
My body is exhausted. My soul, excavated. It’s another late night after a long day of driving, family, and more driving. Yet still here in a hotel room off the old El Camino Real, I’m writing, publishing, and writing again.
-Steven