A Light Time Experience
We’ve been swept up in a whirlwind of change these past few weeks. As the old year rolled without pause into the new we packed up our apartment in Brentwood and moved across town to the home we recently purchased in Culver City. We have been busy ever since with the work of unpacking our life into a new abode and the experience of dwelling alongside more boxes than we care to count.
It’s a lovely neighborhood that we’ve chosen. Our house, situated on a gently quiet street, is mere walking minutes away from the bustling downtown area of Culver City and in the other direction close to the green expanse and sweeping panoramas of the Baldwin Hills. We feel instantly at home here. There is a sense that one is a definite part of the wider city of Los Angeles that we didn’t experience in our last area and it suits all of us very well indeed. The new house, spread over four floors, is full of light and the family finds itself with room to breathe again. On arriving our dog spent a healthy amount of time tearing around up and down the stairs in happiness with a beaming grin as if he couldn’t quite believe the spaciousness of his new terrain. It is a rather special way to begin the second decade of our life here in these United States.
My daughter and I took an evening away from the unpacking marathon on Friday and visited the lights at LA Zoo with a couple of her classmates. It was a magical experience. The sleeping animals were nowhere to be seen and instead the zoo was lit throughout with wonderful displays and lights of every colour. We meandered around, snapping photographs and smiling as the children enjoyed one another’s company. I was struck by the thought that my daughter is now making memories that will in time prove as enduring as my son’s recollections of his early days in a beloved Manhattan, snowy and sunny by turn.
We drove home with speed on the freeways, long after night had descended from the sky. As we passed by downtown Los Angeles with its tall glittering buildings dwarfing us mere mortals, I heard the ghostly whisper of that ever present remembrance of the life we once lived amidst the glory of the city that never sleeps. It’s a voice that has been painful to hear for much of our time in this land of sunshine and sand but whether it’s the optimism of the New Year or simply because we finally seem to have found a spot we’re all happy to call home for a while, on this particular occasion I simply smiled in recognition and drove on, leaving the towers of light fading slowly from sight in the rearview mirror.
