Before (10.2.24)
I think I'm falling for you.
Have you ever seen something so breathtaking that you could not turn away? Half a lifetime ago, before kids, I was a postgrad student in New England. Florence and I heard that the summer’s rainfall was “perfect” for leaf peeping. Having lived in the US before, this was not our first fall, but it was a tease irresistible to newlyweds.
This was before TikTok, before Insta, before iPhones, before 4K video, before YouTube. It was a bigger world, one in which such experiences had yet to be virtualized: would it really be as awesome as promised? You had to go there to see it, and there wasn’t much of a way to preview it. It was also a world in which, for us at the time, paying peak season rates for a long weekend - even at the cheapest hotel on offer - was to forgo an entire week’s vacation at the kind of hotel our modest budget ordinarily warranted. Since this also predated the likes of TripAdvisor, we were truly taking a flyer - on both the hotel and the destination. We bit the bullet anyway.
Most of the time, when the odds are against you, you lose. As we checked into the hotel, it was clear we lost bad. Facing the highway, it was sited miles from prime leaf peeping territory - and so still mostly green at that elevation. Our hard-earned savings netted a tiny room, genus dilapidus. Chances are the mint carpet was once a deeper shade, since it was put in before we were born. Still, Florence, ever attentive, insisted that I splurge and enjoy the $20 prime rib prix fixe at the hotel restaurant. She knows I like prime rib. So even before the first bite, it was already the best I’ve ever had, because the company was lovely. She said to me: you know I love you for who you are, and not what you have, because I am with you now, before anything, when you have nothing.
Truer words were never spoken.
The next morning, we set about our day. The autumn air was crisp, its alpine freshness inviting long, deep, breaths. The sky, spotless and blue, brimmed with confidence, buoyed by the sun’s adoring stare. The drive was its own reward. As we climbed, brilliant maples, one after the other, lined the roads, in vivid reds, spectacular oranges, and luminous yellows. When the sun’s rays hit just so, each looked as if it were lit by magic dust from within.
Occasionally, a break in the trees would offer a glimpse of the valleys and mountainsides beyond. We were so spellbound by the endless canvas of maples in full glory that our trip was almost prematurely ended by a moose strolling across the road - in the moment, it felt like an encounter with a Narnian fawn.
And that set the tone for a day and a half of lookouts, strolls and hikes. It was hard to imagine that before, we had perseverated so much over whether to go. We returned to Cambridge wiser, richer, grateful, and ready for a new adventure that would eventually lead us to New York and parenthood.
Today is before tomorrow. May we use it well.
J
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