Places I Used to Inhabit

It is strange to be suddenly confronted with your own unconscious and habitual movements and behaviors. This happens when there is some major change in your accustomed physical environment. For instance, it has almost been three weeks since quitting smoking, yet when I’m writing and get temporarily stuck searching for the right formulation of words or thoughts, my body just stands up all on its own and walks out onto the screen porch.

Now when this happens, there is no ashtray out there. No matches. Nothing to light. So I stand there for a few seconds in a state of confusion wondering: why am I here?

And then there is the kitchen.

For the past two decades, my day began like this: I walked into the kitchen and took a sharp right. All in one place were the things I needed. The coffeemaker, the filters, the coffee, the water, and the compost bin (for yesterday’s grounds). The next ten movements I made were all so habitual that no conscious thought was necessary. And because I keep my thyroid medication on top of the coffee tin, I never forget to take it.

This morning I woke up, went down to the kitchen and took a right. I found myself standing back-to-back with a refrigerator, staring at a blank wall where my coffeemaker used to be, wondering: why am I here?

All that because . . . this is my kitchen now:

And this is my kitchen now:

And this, too,  is my kitchen now:

I forgot to take my thyroid medication for the first time in years this morning. This afternoon, I needed scissors. I walked into the kitchen and headed toward the empty wall where the scissors used to hang. Later I needed a plastic bag. I headed toward a drawer in front of the kitchen window. The frig was in my way. And of course that drawer is no longer there anyway – it is now in the bathroom. It is only a matter of time before I walk into the kitchen and simply drop my empty coffee cup, letting it smash on the floor right below where the sink used to be.

It is going to be like this for about three more weeks.

Once the new kitchen is here, I will have to learn a whole slew of new habitual movements. I have no idea yet where the coffeemaker is going to go in the new arrangement, but I am going to put A LOT of thought into it. Because this kitchen is probably going to be my last one. However it is arranged is going to determine where I go and what I do in the first five minutes of every day from now until . . . my institutionalization.

That is, assuming my institutionalization doesn’t happen sometime in the next three weeks.

 

 

Happy Flag Day!

 

Co-habitating family members aside, one of my two top people in the world – my sister – had a birthday five days ago and, in line with sibling tradition, I almost forgot it. There was just enough of the daily allotment of energy left to whip out a quick email. The next day, she graciously thanked me and then noted that she shared a birthday with our current Oval Office Occupant, adding that this fact worried her a bit. I immediately wrote back to reassure her on the total irrelevance of this unfortunate coincidence:

“The only similarities I see between you and the pwesident are that you are both old white male senile racist misogynists with persecution complexes totally unqualified for the offices you are briefly pretending to occupy.”

 

Knowing my sister, I assume she is nevertheless worried. So I will expand on the differences between them in my blog:

She is not under investigation.

She has never said the word “P***y” in her life.

She studied Law and understands the Constitution.

She is generous to a fault.  (Her first instinct is to worry more about other people than herself.)

She doesn’t mind paying taxes.

She travels in order to learn about the world. And herself.

She prefers understatement to exaggeration.

She has a sense of humor.

She has me.

 

 Happy Birthday, Sis!

(five days late)

Random Updates

 

Despite my flailing a bit in the blog business, there have been a few developments around here. So I am once again stealing (and adapting) Kate’s regular feature to get you all up to speed.

First stop – garden projects – mostly my husband’s, not mine (see Blackthumb’s Annual Garden Report”). Here’s the current state of the chicken house, the straw bale veggie garden, and my Florence Henderson rosebush:

   

 

Second stop – Gingerbread Man (see “He’s Back”). Spiffy again:

Third: We had a fifteenth birthday in the house, which means I now have two daughters who can drive away on their mopeds, much to my consternation:

Fourth stop – our kitchen remodeling (see “The World’s Costliest Ice Cubes”). It has now gone into high gear. Below you can see what the old kitchen looked like next to a computer projection of what the new one will (sort of) look like in about three weeks. (Full disclosure: the before picture was intentionally taken at a moment of Peak Clutter). Yesterday the window guys were here and you can see the results underneath.

 

And Fifth. Ever since first noticing the two moons perched in my Red Maple Tree (see “Tidings”), I have looked for them each morning while waiting for my coffee to brew. I found this comforting for some reason and was sort of afraid that they would disappear once the new windows were in. So this morning I was happy not only to find them again – but to see that they brought a friend!

 

Day 10

So.

When I go to bed tonight, I will mentally pat myself on the back for going 10 straight days without . . .  self-administered carbon monoxide, tar and approximately 6997 other chemical poisonings. I can’t yet brag about giving up nicotine yet, because in weaker moments, I am falling back on various other delivery systems for that particular drug. The plan is to make it through the first month in this way and then detox completely when my stress levels plummet precipitously on July 1^st.

I did look into a few other commonly used methods to conquer addiction, but none of them seemed particularly auspicious. There are all sorts of natural and/or homeopathic products, but deep down, I believe that you have to believe that they will work for them to work and I am not much of a believer. The same problem arose when I googled “12 Step Program”. Somehow I don’t see myself taking a fearless moral inventory of my character, admitting my defects to a higher Power and then humbly asking Him to remove these shortcomings. I also don’t plan to become missionary among my many MANY smoking friends. No, I will use my own (if I may say so myself, impressive) powers of denial to get me through.

This I know:

Thinking about quitting sucks big time. It is truly awful in its futile endlessness.

Quitting, at least so far, has been easy in its awesome finality.

We’ll Always Have Pittsburgh

 

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume everyone reading this has had a relationship-gone-bad somewhere in his/her past. In the beginning, you seemed to be in complete agreement when it came to world view, passions, dislikes, etc. When other things were getting you down, this person could make you feel great again. Your contact intensified, consumed more and more of your time, and you didn’t notice for a long time that the slow and stealthy cycle of self-destructiveness had begun.

It started with little things – maybe a smug quip that rubbed you the wrong way. You began to notice how they repeated the same words and phrases and stories. You got tired of rants about the unprecedented outrageous-ness of others. Then lying became an issue. You suddenly recognized how they felt superior to – and simultaneously put upon by – the entire world. If you didn’t watch your step, you might just fall out of favor, too. At some point, the last straw dropped and you realized it was time to get out.

That’s where I am now. I’ve made my decision.

I am breaking up with MSNBC.

 

(You thought I was talking about the disillusioned Twump voter, didn’t you? I admit, the description would probably fit . . . )

 

Something snapped in my brain while listening to the coverage of Twump’s rosy garden speech on the Paris climate treaty. The MSNBC commentary dutifully pointed out his relentless string of lies, and yet, it was . . . lacking. I care deeply about this issue and it seemed to me that they cared more deeply about something else . . . exactly what, I am not sure – righteousness? ratings? I started surfing for something more . . . something more real . . . and there he was – my dream man:

You might think I am kidding, but I am not. I listened to this discussion four times and was moved each time: (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/shields-brooks-trumps-climate-pact-consequences/ ).  It seemed to me that, in 12 short minutes, they cut to the core of everything that is wrong with the current administration and the world right now.  And they did it in a serious, honest and heartfelt way – two people coming from different perspectives, in mutual respect, agreeing on essential core truths:

people who think and feel differently from us are not our enemies,

we may disagree on the best method, but helping other people to do better is good, and

there are very, very, minuscule-ly!  few people out there who are truly “out to get us”.

 

When it comes to following political developments, it is time for me to shift gears. I now believe that a couple of hours of PBS each week is all I really want and need.

It is not like I want to cut MSNBC out of my life entirely. A part of me will always love them.  I sincerely hope that we will stay good friends.