ok, so i have been thinking lately about spontaneity- whether i have it, or whether others should have it for me....and i have come up with the conclusion that i only have planned spontaneity. i spend my spare time thinking about places that i want to go, so that when i get a notion to go to those places, it may seem madcap and last minute- but is is anything but that. i was listening to fresh air on npr coming back from picking up cayle from wednesday night church (that's right- i was not actually AT church with her, i stayed home and walked/read paper/drank wine....) the guest was an architect who has an article in this week's new yorker about what should be done with world trade center site- he says that we need to wait, as time will tell us what the ground should be used for. he also said that whatever goes up should make a profound impact on the ny skyline, just like the trade towers. something iconoclast.... that bit of on-air discussion started me thinking about planned spontaneity- if i had not spent time thinking about going to ny- i might not have actually made plans to go when i got the invitation to sheldon's opening in ny a few years ago- and stephan and i would not have gone on the saturday morning of the long weekend to the world trade towers to buy tickets to cats- if we had waited until i reallyhad the money to go (yes- i charged it- but it is since paid off completely...) or a longer time to spend there (just 2 nights and 2 days) we wouldn't have gone, and my budding architect would never have seen the trade towers in their real-time steel and glass glory. i have pictures of him standing in various places in front of various buildings, and thought nothing at the time, nor until this very moment about that part of our visit. (yes, gentle readers, that visit has become synonomous with losing stephan in the subway at 11:00 pm on a saturday night.......)

my father, the traveler, always contended that now is always the best time to go. you can't afford to wait until you retire, because circumstances could be worse then for the trip than they are now. truer words have yet to be spoken, for at 73 he is hopelessly senile, and travels only to the dining room of the v.a. home, with help, in a wheelchair. my father-in-law waited until he retired to live out his dream of going to florida over the winter, only to discover that he hated it- florida that is. my dad lost 2 of his brothers -1 to cancer and 1 to a heart attack- before they were old enough to retire- they never went anywhere that the army didn't send them in wwII- and i regret this for them- they both bought into the' you don't travel until you have the money and have the time' lie.

ah well, enough of this ranting. i am right this minute wishing that i was on a train bound for milan or florence or rome. if you should hear that i have actually gone ahead and done such a trip- be advised that i planned to do this crazy last minute thing all along......