Tuesday Morning Quiet Time

I'm at the Sheraton Airport Hilton in Ontario, CA. I miss Devin and I miss my roommates and I miss both of the places that I try to think of as home. I've been traveling a lot between Sacramento and the Bay Area, and this is my second trip to the LA metro area in five days. I'm not complaining. Everywhere I go, there are people to love and friends to see and rewarding work to do and great progressive causes to support. But I do feel a little disjointed because my community is spread throughout the state and 'home' is increasingly hard to define. It doesn't help that I volunteer my personal time for political activities that I can't mention while I'm at work, and I work hard at a job that I shouldn't mention when I'm volunteering. How appropriate that I have finally found a moment of peace in a hotel room so far away from everyone. My room is clean and quiet, and for three hours this morning, I have no obligations to anyone.

I haven't blogged about anywhere I've been or anything I've done because I haven't had time to reflect on any of it. Since I've had a moment this morning to observe my life in the abstract, I can report the same conclusion that I've drawn during the month-long hustle that was January. I am busy.

This is the end of my quiet morning, and I'm off to the Claremont Colleges to recruit the next class of applicants to the Capitol Fellowship Programs. I feel pretty guilty doing this, since the vast majority of people who I encourage to apply will not make it into next year's class. (Most of the time, I can't believe that I got in.) I feel a little better by reminding myself that everyone deserves an opportunity to hear about the program.

Happy Tuesday.