it's just that I stay with problems longer." --Albert Einstein
My friend the incredible, invincible Laurel Snyder recently expressed excitement at a conference we all go to which is coming to her new hometown. In two years.
I can't imagine knowing where I'll be in two years. I don't know where I'll be in August. In the past five years, I've lived in five states. It took me awhile to count. I left the Midwest, came back a bit north. Left the D.C. area, came back a bit south. It wasn't planned. It just worked out that way.
Admittedly, sometimes taking things down rather than cleaning them, throwing out, trying again, is fun. I read about a man who left his wife because she compulsively rearranged their furniture every day for twenty-five years.
I still haven't found a good place for the chalkboard.
But to have a house. A house that is not on wheels. Walls that can be painted yellow. A table for the mail. A patio not shared.
This year has been so revolutionary, living in a small town again. Once I left my red leather gloves in the Chinese restaurant, and a month later came back. The hostess said: Oh good! And returned holding them.
The problem I would like to stay with is the problem of place. Specifically, planting myself somewhere and staying there.
Back to work. Is it bad or good to dream in your character's voice?
