Not an Island, a Trampoline
These days I feel like I live on a trampoline.
These days I feel like I live on a trampoline.
I came up with this image after reading a post by my friend Jennifer Massoni, a fellow expat here in Santiago, who’s from the same California hometown as me.
This week she writes, Island Living:
I summon the island metaphor because of the isolation factor. While Ryan and I have lived here for 2.5 or 1.5 years (!) now, respectively, California is receding more and more. It’s simply been a long time since we lived there or called any part of it our own.…But I know what I’m feeling isn’t just about the distance anymore. It’s about what Ryan and I have been through this past year, how rare our experience is, and therefore how isolating it feels.
Jenn has had a challenging year. Understatement. I love reading what she writes.
Her post got me thinking about what metaphor I’d use to describe this year in Chile. If hers is an island, mine is something different. It’s been a hyperactive and hyperconnected year for me.
So… a trampoline.
I’m jumping in the middle of the trampoline, trying to maintain a steady rhythm, and not fall off.
The springs of the trampoline are the supports I have here in Chile are: a certain man, the university where I teach and its wonderful staff, all my other clients and projects and friends and rituals. There are lots. The fabric is pulled tight. Perhaps too tight. Often one spring will fly off and another one gets connected, so I need to be careful where I jump.
What image describes your world today? An island? A trampoline? Or something else entirely?
photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc