Saturday, February 19, 2011

Packing Light

I'm sorting through stuff tonight, packing up a few precious things, jettisoning lots of paperbacks.  When I was married and Velvet was little, I must have read everything Anthony Trollope ever wrote.  Great Expectations, too.  Those paperbacks are going to some makeshift bookstand on Broadway.  Songs don't take up any room, though.  Over the years, some songs stay attached to you and become part of the soundtrack.  I'm sorry to say that this song is attached to me all because of friends from high school.




They mean it in the nicest possible way, of course. It must be on my mind because of Buzz Kill. I suspect this Spackling frenzy has been stimulated by his anxiety that my mother will kill him if we don't make a bundle off the apartment.  He could have any number of his own reasons to be anxious, however.  Like the IRS.

I packed away the cake topper from our wedding cake tonight, wrapped in hot pink tissue and tucked into tupperware.  It will land safely with me where ever I land in August.  I feel like Harlem is best for now, but I still like the idea of a PhD from UVM in Educational Leadership and Policy.  Vermont in 2012 could be hopping.

I must admit some trepidation regarding moving to Texas in today's political climate.  I would rather live in a state that has a warrant out for George W's and Dick Cheney's arrest than in one with two Bush libraries.

14 Comments:

Blogger Debra She Who Seeks said...

Why are you keeping your wedding cake topper?

February 20, 2011 at 12:08 AM  
Blogger Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

"I would rather live in a state that has a warrant out for George W's and Dick Cheney's arrest than in one with two Bush libraries." Me too girl, me too.

February 20, 2011 at 12:41 AM  
Blogger PENolan said...

The topper - an orchid with a spray of lily of the valley made of sugar - turned out to be the best part of the cake. I loved a lemon filled cake from a bakery in St. Louis when I was a kid. I thought it would be nice for the big cake. Fortunately, someone snapped a photo the minute I took the first bite and realized my mistake. That photo characterized the next few years.

February 20, 2011 at 12:44 AM  
Blogger MRMacrum said...

I'd rather live in a state with a NRA license plate. Looks like I might get my wish.

Given our current political climate here in Maine, those tree hugging Vermonters would be well advised to keep their state car, the Subaru, outside our borders. I hear some Tea Party coalition has been formed to outlaw Subarus and Volvos. Then someone noted that hey, even Conservatives drive Volvos, so they dropped the Chinese owned Volvo from their mission statement and added the Prius.

Thankfully we have those lunatics over in New Hampster as a buffer state between us and the Commies in Vermont.

According to Google (and they are never ever wrong), Burlington is about 4 hours and 185 miles from my dooryard. So maybe not neighborhood neighbors, but neighbors once removed.

February 20, 2011 at 7:00 AM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Excellent news, MRMacrum
As it happens, I drive a 2003 Forester with a bumper sticker of a Texas flag with a Star of David that reads: Why not Kinky?
It's from Kinky Friedman's run for Texas Governor.

Dr. Monkey, I have nothing to add ;)

February 20, 2011 at 9:36 AM  
Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

I'm not sure that in this political climate you can find a state not dominated by all these crazies.

Getting rid of my near 2,000 books when I moved into this apt. was like cutting out my soul. Going through what you're going through is gut wrenching stressful but it does end. When the new day comes you will feel like you've been reborn on a bright sunny day.

February 20, 2011 at 9:38 AM  
Blogger Punch said...

as you build a new library of paperbacks I would recomend Eckhart Tolle's 'the power of now' It offered me a lot.

Good luck withon finding a new Buzz.

February 20, 2011 at 9:43 AM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Punch - As it happens, I have The Power of Now in hard back and have been reminding myself to breathe through all this and focus on the moment at hand.

Leslie, I hear you on that.

February 20, 2011 at 9:50 AM  
Anonymous Jennifer said...

Funny, I've always thought about songs forming a 'life soundtrack' of sorts too. Weeding books is like re-living a life too, isn't it?

I know it's your home and all, but that kind of political climate would take me down after awhile.

February 20, 2011 at 11:45 AM  
Blogger Comrade Kevin said...

I remember moves with my parents, going through boxes of yellowing, fusty smelling paperbacks from the seventies, bought at drug stores.

February 20, 2011 at 5:22 PM  
Blogger mac said...

I was living in Florida in 2004, when we had three Hurricanes in 6 weeks.
Hurricane number TWO destroyed my home and 'most everybook I had. I had my father's extensive collection. Those books were all he cared about, to inclue his children from different women.
Somehow, it seemed as if I was throwing him away along with those waterlogged boxes of books.

I can't say that it was an unhappy day.

February 20, 2011 at 7:34 PM  
Blogger Murr Brewster said...

There are some good people in Texas. Both of them have commented favorably on my blog. Good luck finding them. And pray to Molly Ivins for intercession every night.

February 21, 2011 at 1:20 AM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Excellent suggestion, Murr. My mom has all her books, and I can read one when I'm there at the end of March to see the bluebonnets

mac, today I got to throw out three gigantic garbage bags of ancient files. Found some cute stuff of Velevt - like the sonogram of him in my belly. That was cool.

Jennifer, now that I've safely stored my treasures, I'm jettisoning all this crap that was attached to my married name. It's like I'm purging that identity from my physical reality.

Comrade, beautiful and evocative image. I officially declare that you, sir, are Thing of Beauty Number 4-101.

February 21, 2011 at 6:24 AM  
Blogger lisahgolden said...

I'm itchin to get out of the South and leave it to the dopes.

February 22, 2011 at 12:07 PM  

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