Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Two Chairs, One Empty in the Corner

"Two Cups of Coffee," Josh Kelley


Living apart is more difficult than I initially anticipated    is really hard    sucks. 

You're a falling star, You're the get-away car.
You're the line in the sand when I go too far.
You're the swimming pool, on an August day.
And You're the perfect thing to say.
 


The days are vibrant and scurrying-beetle-busy. The nights go by too fast and the phone isn't enough. To hear the inflection and the tone in a voice is one ladder rung better than an e-mail or a text, but there isn't a voice beautiful or powerful enough in the world to compare with the physical contact and affection of a simple hug. I miss him and I know it. Some days I don't know how to get those words out in the way I want to, and instead it comes out in frustrated and unwarranted anger. 

You're a carousel, you're a wishing well,
And you light me up, when you ring my bell.
You're a mystery, you're from outer space,
You're every minute of my everyday.


We fight because it's late and we're exhausted and we have to get up in a few hours. He's not here and I'm not there and I can't talk for long because I have at least two more hours of work before I go to bed. And the power's out and Bailey needs more Advantage and the laundry needs to be done and can we really afford that this month? And then, we spend too many hours not talking, allowing our stubborn natures to entangle like a disease, infecting the already too little space we do have to talk and laugh and share. Because it's more important to be right and to win then it is to apologize and retract. Or so it seems, then.

Whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through,
And you know that's what our love can do.


Sometimes we say things we don't mean and it hurts and I wonder if the effects run deeper--longer-- than any visible scars. Because the truth is, there aren't instructions for living 300 miles away from your best friend and husband. There isn't a guidebook or a script or a magic band-aid that takes away the confusion and the loneliness. Not that I'd want it necessarily if there was-- life's intricate mystery and beauty is often masked and indecipherable before the lesson or the "product" is revealed. But until then, this metaphorical ocean will inevitably be full of both calm and high seas. And truth be told, I haven't navigated these particular waves before. Some days, then, the tranquility must come from what we know and where we've been rather than where we currently are.

And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It's you, it's you, You make me sing
You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.


They say strong ships always come back to safe harbor. The weathered vessels-- the ones full of creaks, rust, torn masts, barnacles-- are perhaps the most powerful, as their strength has been tested and proven amidst even the harshest stretch of sea. It makes sense relationships would follow the relatively same logic, and while the figurative passages without land in sight are isolated and scary, the end reward is so rich and sweet and gratifying...

You're every song, and I sing along.
'Cause you're my everything.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Way My Life's Got to Be

"The Reeling," Passion Pit

Tomorrow's class schedule on the whiteboard, check. Sigh over the amount of grading that's not done, check. Put on my rapist jacket raincoat and walk to the car, check. Stop at 7-11 for the extra-large-24-ounce cup of nature's best hot chocolate, check. Walk Bailey, check. Avoid the stack of bills, check. Eat the rest of yesterday's deviled egg salad, check. Collapse into the couch and watch 44 minutes of bad TV, check. Listen to Nelly "Just a Dream" and Jay Sean "2012" as motivation music, check. Turn on the computer (and, obviously, Pandora) and begin to plan for tomorrow, check. Go to bed too late and prepare for a repeat tomorrow, check. Boring? Maybe. Necessary? Definitely. I've been traveling the last four weekends in a row, and while My Life: October 2010 has been full of beautiful people, beautiful places, and beautiful memories (pictures and stories to come!), I cannot wait for this upcoming weekend. What's in store? Oh, no big deal, just an entire 48 hour block of pure, unadulterated laziness. Featuring: me, my couch, my television, my huge cotton sweats (men's size large, thanks), 85 cups of coffee, and Trader Joe's cereal. Oh, and sleeping in until 10. At least. Sure, I'll have to do a little quite a bit of grading. But I don't plan on leaving the house. Except to take Bailey out. Maybe.

Here's to the weekend. And also, Christopher Columbus, since I'll be teaching his 1494 letter to the king and queen of Spain next week:


We make lists, we make plans,
to write books, to form bands,
Or move to Kreuzberg and escape into the night
So pack your bags, let's take control
you and me, let's go the next time you're lonely
or the next time that you're free

So why, so why, so why
If we can make the plans, can we just not find the time

Don't get me wrong
I know it's hard and the good things never last
Yet there's no point waiting for the miracle to save your life
If you took the time to find what's real amongst the
baggage that you feel is holding you back
the demons cast aside...

The safe way is not the way to live your life
Your mind is beautiful, don't let the daydreams die

-"Find the Time," Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly

Monday, October 11, 2010

If I Get Home Before Daylight...

 ...I just might get some sleep tonight
"Friend of the Devil," Grateful Dead

Grades are due at noon tomorrow; I'm DEFINITELY not done grading a huge stack of Sylvia Plath/Langston Hughes AP comparison essays, and it's already 10:30 PM. Tim and I went to Justin and Melissa's (beautiful!) wedding in Sacramento this weekend and had a blast--SUCH a happy couple, and SO good to see all of Tim's Michigan friends--, although "dehydrated" and "exhausted" are certainly two words at the top of my current list of About Me adjectives.

I have so much to write about and zero time to do it, but I wanted to write a quick post to document that my kids are--for the most part-- just flat out RAD and I'm absolutely loving my classes...30 students today decided to take me up on what we've dubbed the Transcendental Challenge; they're attempting 8 days with no texting, no Facebook, and no instant messaging of any kind-- I'm SO proud of them. AND, Tim and I have the honor and privilege of attending Justin and Collen's wedding this upcoming weekend in SB. As busy and overloaded and DVR-Us-Weekly-deprived as I am, sometimes I'm not quite sure if life gets any better...

(And then, I stumble across the following badass picture of the one and only EAP, and I realize that actually, it does:)


pondering weak and weary? hardly...