I borrowed Christopher's car today for an early morning appointment and a quick afternoon trip to my favorite grocery store... the one I first shopped as a young bride... long ago... when my new husband was in graduate school and before we "moved away".
Today is my anniversary and as I walked through the aisles of that store, only recently remodeled from the 1970's aisles I remember, I found myself once again wondering where the years have gone. Transitions will do that to you... and the out of body experience brought about by too much humidity (or is it just "out of mind"?).
Actually, I find myself anticipating what the changes will bring to my life. Most noticeably more time to do stuff. What stuff I am contemplating... stuff that requires little or no money... stuff like perhaps finally opening the Rubbermaid container of craft items from a former life as a folk artist. We do not call ourselves crafters... we are artists. Anyhoo... the only time that container has been opened in about ten years is to remember what was in it.
There will definitely be more vegetarian meals to try and the scrapbook journal to work on and (of course) books to read and entire subjects to study if I want to. I'm certain the vacuum of extra minutes will find themselves filled, even if it is with anticipated autumnal afternoons on my deck... not hurrying because dinner will be sandwiches and fruit for the two of us.
I've earned rocking on the porch in the morning or reading in the afternoon. Life's reward for less energy and joints that give out when I (attempt) to get up off the floor while perusing bottom shelves of bookcases... synergy at work... well oiled knees vs. not enough time in my "hands on" mothering years.
I want to revisit authors from my youth, those whose volumes created within me a love for all things words... the way words sound when spoken and how some words tend to run over and over in my mind. I have been collecting my beloved diaries of Anne Morrow Lindberg from used book sales at the library and have most of them as well as at least one copy of Gifts From the Sea.
I think she was the first (at least that I can remember through the fog of years) that taught me beauty in the midst of tragedy and struggles... as written by one whose prose is spoken in poetry. She will soon be reread...
As for today... appointments were kept, dinner made, dishes washed, a load of laundry "thrown in", and... as I sat in the steaming parking lot waiting to pick Christopher up from work (as I did have his car)... my cell phone picked up and a text written to my daughter to tell her I've decided to move to Alaska.
Picture: Blue Stove; allposters.com
6 comments:
Good plans...when does one ever run out of projects really?
Elizabeth
Hope that this nasty streak of heat, heat, and humidity breaks soon. We're getting a few days' break before it sets back in.
You know, so many people love AML that I should try reading her for myself. E.B. White was not fond of her writing and because of my great fondness for him, I've been loyal by not reading her. Perhaps he'd forgive me for sneaking a peek.
Hope that you had a wonderful anniversary!
Happy Anniversary! Many happy returns.
Brenda, I wish you and your husband a blessed anniversary!
I do appreciate all you say about your transitions....I still have one son at home (well, one son is all the sons I have), but he has his own life. I'm happy to have him here, but it isn't the same at all. Life is so different, and I'm just trying to live the one I have now, with more health problems, but lots of new possibilities, too.
Every day is a blessing. A new discovery.
I am making lists of what to do when it cools off a little!
I have to ask myself often if I'm not your older sister and we were separated at birth. We like so many of the same things and people. Anne Morrow Lindbergh's books have been my favorites for many years. Her sense of history and how the very events of her life were affected by and were indeed affecting history itself, impacted my life and my writing. No one has ever captured a moment or a day as Anne. Perhaps her most heart-wrenching book being HOUR OF GOLD, HOUR OF LEAD. Thank you for mentioning Anne. As you look for Anne's books, you might also look for her daughter, Reeve's books. She definitely has her mother's talents as a wordsmith, though she seems to prefer writing more for children. Oh my, what delight you brought to my day!
Alaskan mosquitos are as big (and fierce) (and plentiful) as eagles. I'd reconsider. ;o)
~ happy anniversary ~
jAne
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