Mom's been in the house for one week now. But today she is officially moved out of her old place.
Today we went down to the garage apartment that she (and for awhile her children) called home for near 20 years. I packed the remainder of my sister's wondrous oddities, the last dusty bookshelf to go. Mom put the key under the doormat for the landlord. We traipsed down the steep steps, onto the walkway that carved through the backyard. Then she pulled a gardenia close to her face, gave it a sniff and we piled in the car and drove away.
I wonder if there is any bittersweetness to it at all for her. It's hard to tell. It was a place to call home regardless of it's faults. Rather like a marriage that slowly fell apart long ago but you stay together because you need each other. You curse each other but you are used to each other, so it becomes the way things are. You thrive together and you grow old together.
For all of it's cracks in the walls and odors emenating from the minefield of doggy doo in the afternoon heat and boisterous, obtrusive neighbors with their mounds of garbage...There was still a nice breeze that came through the windows on just the right day.
I think now with each day that goes by that I am getting all the piles of my stuff whittled away she is feeling better about the move. We got her a new dresser today to be delivered next Saturday. I was finally inspired to replace the shower curtain and rusted rod that if not positioned properly would flood the bathroom. One can walk now through house from the front door to the back door without a gymnist's olympic medal.
And I mowed the lawn. Can I get an amen? Cause that my brethren is a miracle unto itself.
As I drove to the boyfriend's home this evening, there was an especially spectacular cloud formation brushed across the broad canvas sky. The clouds live for change. They do it freely and at every moment of every day. They cause grace even when furious and they paint just the right nuance. This is why people look to the sky when they need solace, when their trials are bluntly falling upon on their feet to trip them up. It's a place that is different, something vast and always new.
Things are getting done and so the canvas changes with it.
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3 comments:
Simon, I have not been here in so long and much has changed!
I need to read back and catch up. As a side notw I left my wife when I was 27, my sons were (at that time) 2 1/2 & 5. I introduced them to my live in bf 2 years later and they were wonderfully accepting despite their mother constantly casting my "lifestyle" in a negative light.
Best to do it sonner rather than later, before the peers in school take hold. Trust me on this.
:)
Then she pulled a gardenia close to her face, gave it a sniff and we piled in the car and drove away.
I found that line very touching. I think you really said so much with it and really conveyed emotion.
Kyle and I saw an absolutely cool cloud formation this evening! A storm had rolled in and before the rain began, the clouds were all ragged and dark. BUT- the sun was setting and a miraculous hole opened up in the storm cloud-- JUST big enough to encompass the sun. It was like this one golden bright eye surrounded by dark cloud.
Just right angle, right hole, right timing I suppose. But very bizarre and intriguing.
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