India.ari - India = _______

I’ve reflected, I’ve rejected, I’ve reinstated. I’ve complained, I’ve compiled, I’ve computed. I’ve misappropriated, I’ve misconstrued, I’ve misused. I’ve sinned, I’ve signed, I’ve signaled—I’ve blogged.

And eight months hence, I’ve reached a critical juncture: I can no longer entertain the masses as the blogger known as India.ari because I will no longer be in India and that would just be stupid. I know I avowed that I would be masquerading as the Jewish New Mexican in India for a whole year, with promises of a “life more interesting”, a life chock full of details worth documenting and experiences worth recounting, but things change, life happens, life doesn’t happen, time heals, and sometimes we don’t get what we want but what we need.

So, sparing the details and the ins and outs, which might be better presented over coffee and a sandwich some lazy salad day when everything feels less cumbersome, but more hazy, less immediate, but better understood (possibly), I simply ask you to take note, at least fleetingly, of the fact that in two days I will no longer be in India.

I will be something like this (if interpreted in hypothetical-blog form): Thailand.ari, Laos.ari, Portland.ari, NewMexico.ari, California.ari, PuertoRico.ari, and then…________.ari (most likely Portland.ari again, but I like to build the suspense).


So, don’t hesitate, just ask, “Will you keep blogging?”

And I respond, “I think so, at least for the next couple weeks, after that I’ll need to consider other things like creative new blog names or if my life still surpasses the interest-threshold required for me to want to think about it overtime enough to continue to write about it.”

And I continue, saying mostly to myself, “But in the meantime, let’s buck up for the ride. Let’s perk up for springtime, and let’s brush off the seat of our pants. Let’s learn from all this and remember why we came here in the first place. Let’s be appreciative and compassionate and forgiving. And forgetting.”

And, in unison, united for a brief moment, we all say, “Let’s!”

And then we all abruptly return to thinking about clever blog names and feeding ourselves and considering our relationship with this incredibly complex planet we live on and the nature of this or that, girls, jobs, money, politics, friendship…

So it goes.