This is a view from our front hall of our kitchen and my "office" space which is also part of the living room. In current parlance it is the Great Room. I spend the vast majority of my days in this space. There are the obvious things like cooking and baking (and then cleaning up from my cooking and baking) and writing my blog. You can just see the monitor of my computer on the back side of the wall between the kitchen and living room and my chair laden with various things which constitutes my "office". But I also use this space for ironing, reading the newspaper, writing pretty much anything, folding clothes, doing puzzles, wrapping gifts and more. There is my stack of library books ready to read, my camera - always at the ready for a photo, my absolutely essential calendar so that I not only know what day it is but also what I'm doing that day, and a few notebooks. One notebook is for random notes, another notebook is for blogpost ideas and the third is for lists. I always have multiple lists running. The important point here is that this is my space, my comfort zone, my happy place. When I'm working here I'm humming or singing or maybe even dancing a little bit. Tralalala. As I said, the way our house is set up, which is not at all unusual here, the kitchen, dining and living rooms are all one big space. The Great Room it is sometimes called. And in ordinary times, it is indeed, a pretty great room. But currently, with this big project going on it's a not so great space. And I have to admit, any negative feelings are all in my head. I hate admitting that. Because our wonderful construction guys are so very hard at work rebuilding our family room (which is off the Great Room) there are some very temporary issues. The first of course being that all of the actual living room furniture is stuffed into the guest room. The second is that the family room furniture is crammed into the living room. All of our furniture was very specifically selected for the space it was intended to be in. So while it's functional and not horrible, it's also not right. But it's temporary. And I know that. It means that we are living in a much smaller space than usual but it's ok. It's short term and we know it so we suck it up. It's the third issue that is my biggest problem. And again, yes, I know, it's just me. The third and final (but biggest) issue is that our fabulous, wonderful amazing construction guys are right there on the other side of the big glass sliders. Right there. Right. There. All of the time. I am going to show you what I mean. Here I am hum dilly hum, doing my stuff in the Great Room: And here are our industrious construction guys doing building magic: Let's look at that again. Here it is, side by side, inside looking out and outside looking in: I am on the inside of the glass, they are on the outside of the glass. Right There All Of The Time. Even though I know that they are not paying one bit of attention to me and are totally focused on their job, I feel as if I am on display. The Human Exhibit at the Zoo. "See the human in her natural habitat". I know I just need to get over myself, but it just ain't that easy friends. I try to keep my head down and my spirits up and stay busybusy. But I absolutely cannot just relax. It was to the point last week where I kept looking for a spot where I could just sit, unseen, and read for awhile. I ended up on the floor in the guest room in a teensy space where my back was against the side of the display cabinet and my water glass under a side table. Tim came looking for me and once I was found asked, very nicely by the way, what I was doing. "Hiding" I said. And then I came out and started dinner. While I was fixing dinner, and unbeknownst to me, he re-arranged things in the guest room a little bit. After dinner he showed me proudly what he had done. He made a comfortable refuge for me!! There amongst the rugs and chairs and tables and this'n'that, he carved out a sanctuary, a spot just big enough for me to sit and read or talk on the phone or whatever I choose to do, and feel less exposed while I do it. Awwwwww. What a nice man! There is just enough space for me to slide in between the table and the piano with a rolled up rug acting as a canopy above me. There is a sofa and coffee table piled on a bed to one side of my comfy chair and a wide table with an ottoman atop it to the other . It's a cozy comfy nook, a perfect spot to hide and just my size. As Virginia Woolfe wisely observed, every woman needs a Room of her Own. While all of this very important work is going on, this will be mine.
Oh I will still spend the majority of my time cooking and baking and cleaning and writing and all of the other stuff I do in the Great Room, but when I need to step away from the chaos for a little bit, now I have my little retreat, my hiding space to get away. And thank you to Tim for making it happen. And for understanding why I needed it. And sometimes, not understanding but accepting it as true.
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
November 2024
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