Now Why Would I Leave?

What am I doing, sitting here? I should be outside, weeding the garden or picking up some of the dead branches that yesterday's wind and rain knocked down.
Okay. So I'm sitting on the porch, which isn't exactly inside, but that sort of neither-here, neither-there space which delights me so.


I realized when I woke up this morning that I have not laid eyes on another human being (well, except for people driving by in cars or on bikes) since Friday.
But this does not mean I haven't had many conversations both by phone and e-mail.
Kathleen and I probably talked at least five or six times yesterday, starting at seven a.m. when we began to try and make up our minds about going to the parade.
I talked to HoneyLuna and to DownTownGuy and I talked to Mr. Moon and to an old lady named Mildred who frequently misdials our number, thinking we're her neighbor.
Bless her heart.
And I got three separate e-mails from bloggers who were compelled to communicate with me as a result of comments I'd made on theirs or other blogs. Now that is strange as this has never happened before in quite that way. Oh, I've gotten e-mails from bloggers and readers, but not as a result of comments. (By the way- I love e-mails from bloggers and readers. Just sayin'...)
And those e-mails led to communications and I feel as if I spent an entire day chatting with friends on the porch and you know what?
It was LOVELY!
God. Who do I think I am? Emily Fucking Dickinson?
No. No I do not think that.
And this afternoon I'll be traveling to Monticello for two rehearsals and that will involve lots of actual face-to-face human interaction and it will be good. Very good.
But you know what? These past few days of solitude have been glorious. They have been exactly what I needed. Right here where I am.
Me and the dogs and the weather and the trains and people I don't really know but somehow do really know and the dirt and the rain and the salmon I ate last night with the most delicious sweet potato I've ever had the joy to eat and sleeping so soundly I don't think I turned over all night long with little Zeke cuddled up beside me.
And now. Onward! There is work to do! There are clean overalls to wear! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the air is cooler, and I might even mop the kitchen floor, just for the pleasure of feeling clean boards beneath my feet.