|
| |
|
|
| |
The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I cannot go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree, but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
--Theodore Roethke
|
|
|
|
Joy's Updates - Straight from the Horse's Mouth.
|
|
| |
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Joy Mitty's New House
I've come up with an alternate plan which will allow me to retire. Those who know me pretty well are aware of my rich fantasy life. It's right up there with Walter Mitty's. (Just Googled to get a link for Walter Mitty and found out Jim Carrey is going to play him in a new Spielburg movie - imagine how that will be.) My top fantasies involve plans for my lottery winnings, my Oscar acceptance speech, being in the audience beside Melissa while Brian accepts his Oscar (but I'm a proud mother no matter what he does), seeing Melissa's children's books for sale and covers for books she's illustrated, roaming around the country and living in different places for a while and then moving on, traveling in style to places around the world, living in the UK long enough to see all of it I want to and meet people, and being a professional writer. That is where my daydreams take me most of the time. Sometimes I fantasize about fabulous things for family and friends and wonder about the grandchildren and how their lives will be.
Then Emma told me about an essay contest for a house she said I had to enter. She brought me the Tennessean with the story in it about an essay contest the writer Cathie Pelletier is having for her house. I decided to enter it for many reasons. One of them is that I've never lived in a house like this with all that light and porches and room! Another is that if I sell it, I'll be set financially in ways I don't have much hope of being otherwise. I've looked at the pictures of it (click Win-A-Home Essay Contest and then Photos) hundreds of times and have arranged my furniture in the rooms and imagined exploring the land, playing with my grandchildren, hosting family get-togethers, entertaining guests, and even cooking and cleaning! It would be a fresh start with a house that doesn't need all the work mine does even though it's in Lawrenceburg which is even farther from Nashville and smaller than Dickson. It's also my only hope to get to retire now instead of two years from now. There are writer vibes in that house. Maybe I really would finish novels and screenplays I've started. I can see myself going outside more and enjoying the creek and being on a riding mower. It sounds great! Besides, a friend wants to buy my house, and it needs him. It requires repairs and work on it that I can't easily do or afford. He loves to do all that and would be good for this house. It's win-win all around.
I anguished over my essay and emailed drafts to Jackie, Alistair, Brian, and Melissa. I couldn't do it. Everything I wrote sucked! It's really hard to write an essay describing why I want a house and deserve it more than all the others who write in. This goes against how I was brought up. It was hard to strike the right balance between sounding too needy or flip. They all agreed with me that I wasn't getting it. Finally, Jackie said she'd been thinking about it and that if she were writing the essay to win it for me, this is what she'd say and then sent the most wonderful tribute I could imagine. I got teary and glowy as I thanked her for what she wrote because I knew she meant it. I told her I could have written one for her, and she acknowledged that she couldn't have written that about herself. Then we agreed to send hers in. I sent her a check for the entry fee and she mailed the essay into the contest. I'm still trying to write one and will send it too if I ever do one that we like. Her husband was incredulous and asked if she were going to give me a half-million dollar house! She told him it wasn't her house to give, she has a house she likes, and I need it.
So then I got the idea to write to Oprah and tell her what good friends I have. This is my latest fantasy. Jackie and I are on the Oprah show talking about this contest and what a wonderful thing Jackie did for me. Since I'll also mention to Oprah that Jackie is a storyteller and performed her one-woman show, she'll get to tell a story there on the show and get all that exposure. No telling where that will lead! I told Kathy about this and she said I could also mention that she's my daughter and tell our story since Kathy has never been to Chicago and would like to go. Jackie laughed when I told her this and said Kathy is definitely my daughter since she just fell right into my fantasy with me! Oprah loves teachers and friendship and reunions and survivals, so it could happen. I'm just not sure in reality I'd like to be on her show but just in case I'm fantasizing about what I'll wear and what else we'll do in Chicago. Maybe my fantasy life it too good. It's almost like really doing all these things, so I don't follow through in real life.
You're all invited to come visit me in my new house. There's definitely enough room, and I'll need company out there in the middle of nowhere! The odds are better than the lottery, and it's not all luck. Judges will read the essays. It could happen! If any of you want to enter the contest, you still have time.
10:14:00 AM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
