This week was filled with frequent distractions: storm chases due to an unusually active period of storms here in Central Pennsylvania; lunches with friends… and yesterday (Saturday) a sunny all-day outing with an out-of-town storm chasing friend to explore and photograph downtown State College, Pennsylvania and Penn State University (something, believe it or not, I had never done after living here for 13 years). This was a wonderful diversion.

We went to Baby’s Grill for lunch, a 50s theme diner. I have a healthy appreciation for the timeframe, growing up watching shows like Happy Days, and experimenting with 50s music for a while in High School after finding some old records from that era in my parents collection. While at the restaurant yesterday, I told my friend a wonderful story that I remember from before I had met and lost my ex-family:

It was the Spring of 1998 and I had yet to put a year of time in at my new home here in State College. One evening the beautiful blonde secretary at work and I made a date to walk around downtown after work. We were young and carefree. She happened to have her hair up in a 50s hairdo when we decided to go into Baby’s for dinner. And can you believe that the antique car show was that night, so there I was sitting in a 50s diner with a beautiful girl with a 50s hairdo, and cars from the 50s were driving by outside. It was a surreal experience and one I will never forget.

After leaving Baby’s yesterday, my friend and I continued to explore Penn State; the homemade ice cream at The Creamery was really steps above anything you could buy in a grocery store. We found a great vista for photographing storms — one that had been there for several years but I had never visited — a parking deck downtown with a killer view from up top (and shelter from the rain to boot!). This is the kind of thing that I would have never found while still strapped in to my family life, so this gives me some hope that my future can bring more happiness than pain. (I guess you probably have to be a storm chaser to appreciate that tidbit).

You’ll note that I cleverly entitled today’s entry “Back to the Future” because I took a trip back to the 1950s. But I also did that because today (Sunday) is going to be tough, because I have to return to the here-and-now. I have on my to-do list various and sundry items that look back on my old life, the ten wonderful years spent with my family. I have more boxes to pack with my former family’s personal items. There is more physical and emotional disassembly required. I need to clean the house and prepare for vacation (which I will probably still take next weekend) without them. And once again I need to look at the impossible situation of paying the bills with one-third less income and little decrease in requirements for payment.