The skill that's necessary to live out of a hotel room in southern Mississippi in July is the ability to just go with the flow; basically to just abandon all self will and determination and allow yourself to be the guy in the rental car going to the job site, eating fast food for lunch and Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. Resisting the reality of who and where you are is what creates the tension and the yearning for things to be different, and it is those feelings that causes the frustration and suffering of life on the road.
It's not all bad. I've upgraded to a better hotel than last week. This week's car is a total piece of shit, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it will be a different car next week. The high-speed internet connection is now fairly reliable, both at the job site and at the hotel. There's a nice running trail along the Gulf shore here in town.
It's not that there isn't a lot to keep me busy. The days are spent at the job site, and at night, there's catching up on the office and home emails, zazen, reading the stack of back-issue magazines that I brought with me, and, of course, blogging.
So, the key is to just accept whoever it is you are at the present moment. It doesn't matter if you're a bag lady or the guy in the hotel room off of I-10. You might find yourself living in the suburbs with a husband and three kids, or a U.S. Senator, or the guy behind the counter at a gas station convenience store. Today, I get to be this guy. Who knows what I get to be tomorrow?
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