Recall the Beginner's Mind

I always promise myself I'll keep my 'vacation brain' when I arrive home. But within minutes, I'm opening the mail, cleaning out the fridge, putting on laundry. Come the next day, there I am, sitting at the little desk in our spare room, furiously plowing through my writing. Getting back into the rhythm of every day life.

I guess that's no bad thing. We don't we want to escape. Still, 'getting away' is an opportunity for expanded perspective. It's a little like the Eastern notion of the 'beginner's mind.' 

Austin definitely freshened up our minds. I remember afternoons outside Jo's Coffee sitting across from the interminable Adam, focusing with absolute intensity on his book in the way that I never can. And the two of us eating spicy tacos under the white hot Texas sun. Swimming in Barton Springs, walking through an art show in the palm woods with heavy sculptures breaking down in the damp earth. 

I remember pulling up at a French food trailer on our drive back to San Antonio. La Boite was done up in corrugated aluminum with enormous, sweeping sun shades. Austin chic. Sweet macarons and iced coffee are enough to get us talking big. Couldn't we see ourselves moving here someday? 

Instead, we're home with beginners' minds, getting fresh takes on our own world.