Sunday, August 25, 2013

Culture Shock

After a drive lasting approximately fourteen eons and seventy-eight geological eras, we are home. We sure drove through some beautiful places, though. I am here to tell you that Florida is one hell of a gorgeous state and none of what I'm talking about has one damn thing to do with Disney World or Miami Beach and everything to do with history and old houses and towns that time has somehow forgotten and jungles and long stretches of river which are almost shocking in their beauty.
I read more Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings as we drove and it was perfect. We would be driving through an area that the story I was reading was set in and it seemed like one of those times of impossible synchronicity. She was a Florida transplant but boy, when she got here, she fell and she fell hard. And thank god because she captured a time and a place like no one else could have.
Such an inspiration. Such a joy. Okay, some of her stories are dated horribly as to attitudes about race and culture but in this case, I'm giving the woman a pass. She ain't no Paula Deen, y'all.

Anyway, I'm exhausted and my house- oh my house. After spending three days in Glenn and Scott's jewel-box of a cabana house where each and every item is selected for its whimsy and utilitarian nature and is placed exactly correctly to charm and never to clutter,



well, I'm ready to just start going through my house and throwing every damn thing out. I just can't live like this anymore and frankly, the dogs can't die soon enough for me. Their smells, their pees, their constant demands to be let in and out- I'm done. I am so fucking done.

All right. I have a lot more to say but I'm too tired and I've got to go unpack a few things and create at least one square foot of order and tidiness. I want desperately to do that and to begin working on that as a whole for my entire life (yes, you've heard this before) but I do, I do, I DO! And I am glad that we'll be sleeping in our bed again tonight which is the best bed in the world as far as my experience extends, but I'm sure I'll wake up and not know which world I'm in- my present, very adult world of MerMer in Lloyd or my childhood world of Roseland.

Well, I'll figure it out.

I'm home. I've been on vacation, I've time-traveled and universe-tripped and gotten in touch with my mermaid roots and now I'm home and the edges are a little blurry but I'm sure things will sharpen tomorrow. And I'll see my boys soon and one day the dogs will die and fall will be coming and it'll all work out, somehow, some way, and this is my life and I hugged my husband so hard a little while ago that I almost choked him.

And I've just been informed that his work-out towels which he'll need tomorrow are missing and here I go, here I go. Home again, chaos ensues, life continues, we go on. I'm home.

12 comments:

  1. Welcome home! I'm glad you got connected with your mermaid roots. :-)
    I so wish clearing out stuff weren't such a lonely endeavor. Keep us posted on progress. Maybe I'll be inspired to do One Tiny Thing to make it better here...

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  2. welcome home! I'm happy for you!

    I read "one day the hogs will die and fall..."
    I'm very fuzzy in my head today so I'm wearing my mom's fuzzy robe so I can be fuzzy on the outside too.

    I know that feeling when you come home from a perfect place and want to toss almost everything you own.

    Glad you had a good time and now you're in your beautiful home.
    love,
    yo

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  3. Sounds like a trip. Glad ya'll had a good time and glad you're home safely.

    I just found out Lon and Liz were playing at the Opera House with Kurzweg and his crew. I didn't get many details, but sounds like a great show (or maybe was a great show..?)

    Tomorrow should be interesting~
    xoxo m

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  4. Betsy- I just threw out a few things in the kitchen that I never, ever use. Martinis were involved. This is a good thing.

    Yobobe- Honey. How ARE you? Yes. I want to get rid of it all. It has served its purpose. Move on.

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  5. I love the towel set up. I, myself, am going through everything I own. I can't stand all unnecessary stuff around me. It is slow going but I know Some part of me will feel unburdened when done, I am so glad you found such joy in Roseland and the minute you see your boys you will feel a different joy. One day you will show up them your rich past. Savor the memories. Sweet Jo

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  6. Uncluttering is good. I can identify because we have a lot of very beautiful but unnecessary things. I've learned that after going through Mom and Pop's house. So many beautiful things that added a lot of clutter.

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  7. I want that pelican hand towel holder. The color is fantastic.

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  8. I'm glad you're safely home.
    I decluttered one room this summer. It felt and looked so good that I intended to use it as a template for my entire house, life, brain etc. Then I forgot.

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  9. Welcome home. I hear you. I was just fantasizing about going through the house, one room at a time, packing it up like I'm moving, only donating half of it and then moving back in.
    I'm exhausted from stuff that is neither functional or whimsical.

    Time to rethink.

    xo

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  10. Ha! Shock of recognition. When we came home from my mothers airy house in st Lucia back to our cramped apartment, well, I wanted to start throwing out everything. And I did start. But two weeks later I have yet to continue. We adjust again. But lordy do I know the feeling.

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