From today's gospel: ". . . none of you can become my disciples unless you give up all of your possessions." Luke 14:35

I find it ironic that on the eve of becoming a full-time pedestrian, I am spending an inordinate amount of time in the car. I console myself that driving it here, there and everywhere increases the number of people who see its day-glo For Sale sign.

The volume is cranked up on my sense of place. New York, the northeast, the U.S. -- my home for my whole life so far -- I am trying to drink it up through every pore. This morning I stopped at a rest area on the thruway. As I stepped out of the car, the asphalt smell wafted off the pavement. A woman in a sari was climbing gracefully into a Toyota; a grandmother shepherded three toddlers who appeared determined to scatter. In the bathroom, an elderly nun was washing her hands, a baby in hot pink Nikes was getting her diaper changed. Later I stopped at Lowe's to get the special bulb for the kitchen light. Someone had bought a lawnmower and left the box in the parking lot. (Didn't fit in the trunk?) A bonanza for me, a nice sturdy box with handgrips. Throngs were there for Memorial Day, buying tiki torches and patio sets with flashy floral cushions. Workaholics lugged dollies full of roof shingles and sacks of concrete mix. The cashiers worked fast, scanning the barcodes on the American dream.

I hope lots of people wrote down the telephone number on my For Sale sign!