Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 12:50 PM
Subject: Alex Flachsbart– 2008 Ramsey Great Ideas Tour– final recap
Looking back on it now, I’m immensely grateful that I structured everything the way I did. Two months of wandering without a plan might have been doable, but I would’ve missed so much along the way that I couldn’t have had half the experience I did. But two months of regimented travel would’ve gotten so tiresome that I would’ve been absolutely thrilled just to be gone when my day of departure came around. I’ve had plenty of time in the intervening weeks to digest all that I saw and did. After all, most of those weeks were spent laying on my couch with my left arm completely immobilized in a sling; I had shoulder surgery scheduled for the week I got back, and I’m only now regaining the use of that arm again. I’ve looked through all my pictures at least twice over, noting new details that I missed in previous viewings and trying desperately to cling to every shred of memory that I’ve got of the time I spent over there. I don’t want to forget a moment; the lonely hours I spent wandering by myself through the darkening streets of Prague, the laughter and the slightly sloppy faces of the customers at the Hofbrauhaus, or the sun slipping away behind the Tuscan hills—I want to retain all of it in perpetuity. But now, two months later, I’m slowly beginning to realize that I can’t. We’re imperfect creatures, and unless we’re blessed with photographic memories (which I most certainly am not), we can only retain that which was most important to us in that massive filing cabinet of memories we all carry around with us. But prioritizing what I saw, what I did, and what I thought at fixed points along that two month span has been more of a challenge than I bargained for. Couple that with the daily onslaught of new experiences that is my life here in Tuscaloosa and you’ve got yourself one heck of a pickle. I can only thank my lucky stars that I wrote it all down for myself – and for you – in these updates that Jay has been sending out over the past four months. And it’s only now that I’m beginning to realize that there’s one ultimate, unspoken gift that the Ramsey family affords all its members: collective remembrance. Whether it’s preserving the life and times of John Frasier Ramsey for generations to come, preserving the antics of John David Connoley or John Harris, or preserving the best of those Great Ideas that we all had (both on our tours and because of them), we all share and, in so doing, remember much which all of us as individuals could never recall. So I suppose I should close with this: I don’t know yet what the highlights, lowlights, and sidelights of my wanderings will amount to. But I know that they’re now all a part of one great, collective narrative, and that with your help, they’ll live on long for a long, long time.
You’ve got my email address, and I’ll give you my phone number: (925) 914-3584. You know where I live, and you know I’m a big fan of company. So if you feel like getting together with me, don’t hesitate. I’m always around. I hope I’ll see many of you in the intervening months, but if not, I wish you a fantastic year, and with any luck I’ll see the rest of you in the spring.
Yours,
Alex