It feels like we are on vacation here at my parents’ house. Everything is so new and unknown it is a bit like we are living in a rented vacation house except for the absence of the beach or mountains to draw the tourists. We are still surrounded by boxes and everyone is living out of suitcases for the most part– another vacation-esque aspect of life here. We have also been in a media deficit which is frankly beginning to make us all a little stir crazy. [smile] Cable and internet hasn’t been installed so we’ve been watching movies in the evening and mooching a very weak wi-fi signal off one of our new neighbors. The frustratingly slow wi-fi and the quiet lull of vacation time that has set in all over this house are the cause of my not posting yesterday. Well it was that and it was also, I must confess, the reading coma I slipped into yesterday afternoon. [smile] Thankfully Caleb found something fun to occupy him. A brief account of mine and Caleb’s very different afternoons follow.
Her Wednesday afternoon: It seems like at least once a year I have one book that captures my attention so greatly that I can’t put it down and I find myself camped out on the sofa, a bed, or the porch for hours at the time just reading. During these periods of reading binges, my sense of hearing is cut off for a time and all awareness of the world around me is blocked. I move only to readjust my body as my arm begins to cramp from holding whatever paperback has infected me. It is the most glorious state and always feels like a gift. [smile]
I started reading Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani a few weeks ago, but haven’t gotten very far into the story until yesterday when I think the vacation atmosphere; the need to veg out; and the lack of cable combined to create the conditions for the perfect reading storm. I read at least 75% of the book over the afternoon hours and tried to finish it last night until my eyes, tired from reading all day, grew too heavy. Reading all afternoon and being completely distracted from all the change that is surrounding me was exactly what I needed. [smile]
His Wednesday afternoon:
Caleb spent his afternoon mowing and edging the lawn! It sounds like the least fun activity to me to occupy a lazy Wednesday afternoon and I worry that y’all will think I’ve allowed him to do all that work while I laid back relaxing, but he insists that mowing is his hobby. [smile]
I’ve tried to figure out what he finds so enjoyable about an activity that leaves you feeling so sweaty and earthy smelling and we’ve had many conversations on the subject. Occasionally catching a glimpse of him while he circled the house yesterday on the new-to-us riding mower that came with the house, I think I’m beginning to understand why he enjoys mowing so much. First, he seems to be able to zone out while following the serpentine mowing path around the yard. He’s also told me many a time that he loves the instant gratification of seeing your hard work turn into a beautiful and neat lawn. He takes pride in the most precise edges and I think it is so cute how he wants to make sure I notice. I think the fact that we don’t have a lawn that’s he’s responsibility currently is also appealing.
Two very different afternoons, but both enjoyable and renewing in their own ways. Discovering new joys through seeing things from a bit of a different perspective is one of the things I love most about life together with Caleb. Yesterday was one of those kind of discovery days.
-Margaret
Daily Musings on Life Together 