Like a Good Wine

It is snack time two thirds of the way over the Atlantic flying from Venice to Miami. I slept most of the way giving into the “must sleep will take pills” position. I am glad to have finally taken this step. I cannot imagine why I have been so resistant to the idea of taking a couple of sleeping pills on a plane. I admit I do like the food and in some ways feel, if I pay a chunk of change for a plane ride I want my moneys worth, and this includes the food unfortunately it also includes the screaming kid two rows back, the cramped space and the hours of moving shifting jockeying for any position that can provide a bit of comfort . I know this sounds crazy and backward. Looking at the plane ride from this perspective I am surprised I sleep in hotel rooms. I am not referring to roadside motels where for less than $40.00 you shower, shave and passout; as soon as you wake up it is “up and at ‘em” and hit the road. I am talking about real hotels, I am blessed traveling through my life I have had so many great hotel experiences. I love to travel and I love hotels. I guess this is the bottom line, if I take sleeping pills I might miss something, “ to painful to imagine.” Sometimes we need to make compromises it seems the older I get the more compromises I make. I wonder… is this because I am wiser or because I can no longer maintain the pace of days past. For most of my adult life I have been able to function on 4-5 hours sleep my prime motivation for this is I want to be able to do it all, “sleep is a waste of time.” I have changed my mind, at least to some degree. The trip from Thailand through the States and on to Venice in 6 days wiped me out and as a result when I arrived in Venice I missed pieces I would simply rather not have. So I am eating my pizza snack 6 hours into the 9 hour flight, I missed dinner and ice cream and was also able to escape the kid two rows back, who was screaming when I went to sleep and is screaming still now, that I am awake. It is difficult to imagine that this has been going on for 6 hours, why do they not have a kid section on the plane. I remember in church there was a back room that was glass enclosed a place for the kids to cry. The least they could do is drug the kids, hell I took a sleeping pill in fact I took two I am now converted I think that the airlines should say screw the experience and drug us all strap us in drug us up and transport; focus on their core mission transportation. I had a teacher in college who opened up the first class of my many with him with the “ what business are they in” speech. I will never forget it. Chuck would most definitely say the airlines are in the transportation business, to bad this over laps with the people business. But think about it the airlines, could have the 4 hour pill the 6 hour pill so on and so forth. The other thing I find fascinating is how the hell can a person talk for 9 hours. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in proximity of one of these gifted few. I think this is the reason that they do not allow cell phone use on the plane. Can you imagine if people were allowed to use cell phones on the plane, the image of this is frightening and at the same time amusing! Could at least be a fun comedy short for SSL. I will arrive in Miami at 11:30 pm in time to hit the sack at 1am and be up in time for some fun in the sun. I love the traveling lifestyle it is only the stress on the body that has been getting to me lately. I think the pills are the perfect solution, and well worth the night I had in Venice prior to the Miami trip. I would not have traded this night in Venice for anything even a restful trip, a night to remember. Monday I will return to Venice arriving in time for my afternoon Italian class a nap and then back to life as usual alla Venezia.
I am still not losing any of my love relationship with Venice. It is very different in the winter, but the warmth of the city and the warmth of the people has not changed. I feel that this is the best time of year for me anywhere. I do like summer but there is something about the winter that suits me. I like the solitude the weather seems to direct me to introspection and this is where I find inspiration to be creative. Creativity seems to be the ballast for my sails. One would think that this would be reversed creativity being the sail. Not for me. I remember years ago speaking with a close friend who was as usual for me thousands of miles away. Carl asked me if I was playing and writing music, I told him no I was too busy he replied “ Jeff you must never stop, when you are not creating you are insane.” I feel that Carl was being a bit dramatic but he was speaking the truth none the less. I have been absorbed in the creative process, new business ideas, new songs and writing, but most of all my mind swirling around how I can expand my life to include Venice as my home. My vision is to live in Venice and Paris; Thailand, New York and Portland regular destinations, for business and pleasure. And of course there must be the annual surfing expedition. My love affair with my camera continues to grow as does my love for writing both music and prose, I have always loved the creative process in business development and this time is giving me numerous opportunities to expand both broadly and to focus at the same time on opportunities for me, Nia and as an advisor to others.
Miami is such a great place I particularly love South Beach. When I lived here in the early 70’s there was not much at all here. It was a retirement community for Jewish people from New York, lots of purple hair and sansabelts pulled up to breast level funny hats and white shoes, and heroin. I am not sure why the junkies and the retires ended up in the same neighborhood regardless South Beach was very different in those days. Let’s just say it was not even close to the top of the hip parade. I used to spend a lot of time here although I lived in Coral Gables, in those days South Beach felt like a set for a Tarentino movie. But there was always the beach; this is one part of South Beach that has not changed. I love the sun the surf but most of all I love the women. Few places I have visited in the world allow for women to have so much fun being women, a great play to witness and as luck or fate would have it I am so blessed too be in the center of all the experience and action. Last night I was at a party with close to two hundred women the theme was the “Pink Party.” I wore a Black Miamiesque suit, pink shirt, pink tennis shoes, and a huge faux pink diamond earring. Debbie as usual was over the top in her pink orange modified slip dress leaving very little to ones imagination. Few women can get away with such a dress Debbie looked as if she was born to be wild. And wild we were dancing the night away with Debbie and all of her Mama Gina sister goddesses. Earlier in the day I was able to spend time with Jennifer Debbie’s oldest daughter. I always love my time with her. We found an Italian restaurant on Lincoln street with a waiter from Venice so I was able to order us up some Spitz con Aperol. Not a normal drink in Miami but the bartender with the help of the waiter made perfect renditions of the famed Venetian Spitz. I was happy to give Jennifer a little taste of Venice.
Miami always brings up emotional issues for me. The first time I visited here after my initial departure in the mid 70’s was five years ago and was no less than traumatic and easily so given my dramatic and overly sensitive nature. I have visited many times since and each time I visit the pain becomes less so. Miami was the town of my early teens and the launching pad for my journey into adulthood. I left the city and that chapter of my life with many scars physical and emotional framed with painful memories. It took, way to long to grow and heal from the effects of my years in Miami. It feels wonderful to be able to come to south Florida and Miami in particular with the absence of pain. The weather has been perfect, as I sit here in my hotel looking out on to the beach the sun is setting behind me and the light of the day is leaving a golden glow on the otherwise bluescape of hues blended together with the sky the sea and the clouds. The white caps of the choppy ocean and the white sand add dimension and depth on the closing of my last evening in South Beach…… this trip.
Tonight Debbie and I will return to Quattro for a round two dinner, the outdoor dinning the entire scene restaurant and street seaming lit entirely by candles in the Miami heat in the Miami scene, short skirts, tight shirts, high heals girls boys all the same everything goes in South Beach. I think I will have a Cuba Libra the classic Miami drink I will be home soon enough for my spitz and a bottle of Amarone.
A 12:30 pm departure and a couple of SLEEPING PILLS and I’ll be home in time for afternoon class with Rosanna. Each day I gain and lose, the gift is knowing and understanding, the gift is wisdom, as Iggy Pop once said “Like a good Wine”……………