{"id":306,"date":"2010-02-23T09:40:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T14:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/?p=306"},"modified":"2010-03-19T09:05:03","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T14:05:03","slug":"my-shrinking-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/2010\/02\/23\/my-shrinking-world\/","title":{"rendered":"My Shrinking World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a week or so ago I was thinking about some travel.\u00a0 I have friends in Missouri I haven\u2019t seen in ages, and I\u2019d really like to get back to Salt Lake City.\u00a0 I used to live a few hours away and I always enjoyed that city.\u00a0 With my current writing project wrapping up in a month or so and only some vague outlines of where the next one will be, it seemed like the perfect time for a road trip.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then I spent a good chunk of last Saturday in the ER.\u00a0 Why is not important.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that until things get sorted out, alone on the road a thousand miles from home and loved ones seems suddenly less attractive.<\/p>\n

I think about my situation and can\u2019t help but draw some contrasts.\u00a0 My son is studying in Europe and as I write this he is between semesters and on a month-long adventure: \u00a0Istanbul, Vienna, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, and more.\u00a0 With my money and his rail pass, his world is very large indeed\u2026thousands of miles.\u00a0 My mother died of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and in the last year of her life her world was measured in feet\u2026 a very few feet.<\/p>\n

I intend to rage against my shrinking world.\u00a0 Bold talk from a guy who a few days ago was hoping to have the chance to make the two-mile trip back home.\u00a0 I wonder if I\u2019ll have the courage to venture far from the illusory safety of a shrunken world? \u2013 Dennis Owen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a week or so ago I was thinking about some travel.\u00a0 I have friends in Missouri I haven\u2019t seen in ages, and I\u2019d really like to get back to Salt Lake City.\u00a0 I used to live a few hours away and I always enjoyed that city.\u00a0 With my current writing project wrapping up in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-writing-life"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t