It's been a little crazy around here already today and I feel guilty because I'm sitting in my beautiful office with the jet-plane-engine fan blowing not-hot air on me and I can look out and see my still blooming phlox and occasionally Elvis and the chickens and the leaves fluttering down in my backyard. They know fall is coming and these, the least-attached (does that make them the most Zen-like?) are letting go early and look a little like yellow butterflies and I also just saw one of those.
I feel guilty because I haven't made the bed/done the dishes.
Honestly. That's ridiculous. But I took a walk and I've got clothes hanging on the line (I am trying very hard these days to pronounce the "th" in "clothes" because I never did, my whole life, just said, "close" and now I want to pronounce it correctly, don't fucking ask me why.
So this morning there was a huge sound of machinery and THEN, I heard a radio come on like the Voice of God, then turned down a bit but I could still hear a man's voice either ranting or preaching, one or the other, and then music started up and I could hear things like, "You are the hope!" and I knew it had been preaching and oh god. No.
So I went for my walk and I saw that the machinery was two things- one, the guys at the church next door were doing yardwork (and they keep that place so tidy and neat) and two, there was a truck the size of Wisconsin and it appeared to be digging holes in the ground for power poles, I guess.
And the radio was set at the church, outside, so that the yardworkers could hear the Message Of God over the sounds of the machinery and well, you know.
No, no, no.
When I got back from my walk the truck was still there, the radio still blasting another sermon. A ranty sermon and the preacher was probably a good preacher but I ain't got the patience and I ain't a Christian and so I walked over there in my sweat-stink clothes and I talked to a very nice young man and I said, "I'm your neighbor. I live next door. And I'm sorry to complain because y'all are such good neighbors but I am trying to write something and your radio is very loud and it's hard to write while listening to a sermon."
That was good, right? It made it sound less like I hated his GOD NOISE and more like I was a little interested in the sermon but it was interfering with my (possible) work.
And he smiled and he turned it down and now the truck is gone too but all of this has made me realize that they're supposed to lay a sidewalk in front of my house at some point (it was supposed to happen in July but, well, no, it did not) and that's going to be another sort of hell.
Anyway, it's peaceful now again and I'm staying in Lloyd today, all day unless some unforeseen emergency arises and I hope it doesn't. I feel better today and I just want to move slowly about this place I love on this beautiful day and do tiny things in my tiny world and be grateful for it all- feeling better and clothes on the line and chickens and food to eat and flowers blooming and a bed to make where I sleep with my love and running water to wash my dishes in when I get around to do doing those things.
It's that sort of day and it has been given unto me and to ignore it, to not breathe it all in and appreciate it would be a wrongness of which I will not be a part of.
And I'm going to write a letter to that dentist because the more I think about what that woman did yesterday, the angrier I get. It's not just for my particular precious baby but for all of the babies she gets paid to interact with.
Fuck her.
Okay. That's the story from here.
Time to hang some more cloTHes on the line.
Love...Ms. Moon
I am so glad you are writing a letter to the dentist, his assistant needs a new profession. I don't think I am physically capable of pronouncing the "the" in clothes.
ReplyDeletePlease do write the letter. That woman was out of line.
ReplyDeleteI can't pronounce the "th" either.
I'm so glad that you're writing that letter because I, too, thought about that all last night, and it was SO FUCKED UP!
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest of your post -- peaceful, lovely -- I hope it continues.
I say "cloze" too. I don't think anyone really says "clothes," except one of the characters in Muriel's Wedding, and that was made in Australia.
ReplyDeleteYour day of household appreciation makes me miss my pre-job life!
Yes, a letter will be good. Just like your talk with the neighbor. We just have to let people know. Point things out in a friendly sort of way so they'll maybe listen.
ReplyDeletelove,
yo
Yes, yes, please write that letter. That woman at the dentist is teaching children that they don't have the right to say no when something doesn't feel right. She's teaching them they don't have the right to cry when they hurt. Everything she's teaching them is so wrong, and I'd go so far as to say dangerous.
ReplyDeleteNicely done with the sermon.
When I read about that woman at the dentist, I wished for you to find a way call her on her behavior. Some dentists can't/shouldn't treat children. The first one I took Em to wanted to sedate her and I refused. We found one who was wonderful with kids and I'm so glad I did. But that woman? Who threatens to take a gift they just gave away from a sweet scared kid?
ReplyDeleteGo get em, Mary. And hooray for you for getting the sermon turned down. And I hope the sidewalk installation is quick and painless.
Its stinking hot here now too, things are dry and the locusts are buzzing, it's the end times of summer and inside is the place to be.
ps I'd give up and say cloze, but I'm lazy that way :)
I AM a Christian & I don't like to listen to ranty sermons. Or, really, ANY sermons. I just like to sing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read about the dentist & now I'm afraid to!
My grandmother said cloTHes. She also said Hick-or-ee, whereas the rest of us said that we were from Hick-ree (Hickory NC). I've just been sitting at my desk saying clothes to myself under my breath & I think I put my tongue up against my teeth like I'm going to say the TH, but I don't really.
I have only heard Brits say the TH in clothes, no one else Ditto on everyone's gladness that you are writing that letter but particular ditto to what Angella wrote it is 98 here in LA and I was going to do some garage organizing but maybe not. It is nice to appreciate a beautiful day. It is a good reminder. Sweet Jo
ReplyDeleteYes, a good letter. Maybe she will learn something. Maybe she has her own struggles to be brave, escorting scared little kids into the dentist's chair without their mothers all day long.
ReplyDeleteGail- I agree. I'm sort of joking about the "th" but sort of not. It'll be my new affectation.
ReplyDeleteAllison- Done.
Elizabeth- It was a beautiful, quiet day.
Steve Reed- I hear it on my audio books. Haha!
Yobobe- I really did want to be friendly towards the guy at the church. Not so much with the dentist.
But I tried very hard to keep the letter's tone not angry, merely...uh, pissed? No, not really. Truly concerned.
Angella- Thanks for those words. I borrowed for the letter.
Mel- The damn thing is, is that this practice is known to be "the best" in Tallahassee for children. The waiting room is like Disney World or something. So I am hoping this is not the norm.
The Bug- That's why my mother went to church too. She said before she died that she was ready to die (about one million times) and once she added, "Not that I think I'm going to see Jesus walking around the corner," which cracked me up.
Sweet Jo- I hope you did NOT do garage organization in that heat unless your garage is air conditioned. Good Lord, woman!
A- Maybe. But if it causes her to act and talk like that, she needs to find something less stressful.
Loud sermons and randy (ha--I know you typed ranty) preachers definitely need a wide berth.
ReplyDeleteThe letter will hopefully result in something good for all.