Moving

At last, the day has finally arrived. Tomorrow we move into our new house. Sure, there are still projects to be done, but all the major things are finished, so we go forth to our new home. Tonight I must pack...

Books, Books, Books

As I pack up the things in my home, making the gradual move from old house to new, I am learning that I am a collector. You may remember my realization that Jon and I are collectors of chairs a while back. But other than that, I thought my collecting days had ended long ago with Smurfs and unicorns. Not so, it seems... I also collect books. And recipes (oddly enough - more on that later).

Yesterday, I packed up five boxes of books from one bookcase. Pulling the books off the shelves, I was easily distracted as various books beckoned me to peruse their pages... marine biology from my college days, my journal from days spent in the village of Visomboh in Cameroon, a book about the Biltmore Estate, "Visioneering" by one of the Stanleys. Other books I did not take time to open, but were packed with care and fondness... children's books given to me as a child, books in French, works of fiction from "Where the Red Fern Grows" and other classics to "The Summerhouse" which I literally found somewhere but it turned out to be a fun read, books on Christian living/apologetics/doctrine, books on sociology and anthropology. So many interesting books! And so little time to read - it's tragic (almost)! Some of the books I have, I have not even read.

I love bookstores and libraries... so many fascinating subjects and ideas and thoughts out there. I worked in the Science and Engineering Library my fourth year in college, and it was a great job. Besides the fact that I could get some studying done and meet interesting people, I got to deal with all these books, many regarding topics I didn't even know existed. One day I would like to have a library in my home - a whole room devoted to books, with big old wooden chairs and table to sit at (just like in the old library in Clark Hall).

One book I want to track down is "Mr. Pine's Purple House." It was one of my favorites as a suburban kid in New Jersey. It's about this guy, Mr. Pine, who lives in a neighborhood where all the houses are the same. But he is unique and paints his house purple to express his individuality, but I think everyone ends up copying him and painting their houses purple, too. I've thought about Mr. Pine recently while painting the interior of our new house - our "house of many colors." I've never lived in a house that had much color on the walls, but I've just about chosen a different color for every room in this new house, though I think it flows rather nicely still. Maybe it's my artistic side coming out. Anyway, I've been meaning to get that book...

Questions in the Land of Opportunity

"This is your life.
Are you who you want to be?"
(Switchfoot)

I heard that song this morning and it stuck in my head. Who do you want to be? Is your life the way you imagined it "when the world was younger?" It's always good to evaluate and make adjustments as needed. But the question, to me, goes deeper.

I look at the world and wonder what everyone else wants, too - not just me. What do all those people crossing in front of my car on Broughton Street want from life? What about the small cluster of folks standing outside the jewelry store waiting for the keyholder or manager to arrive and let them in? Is this what they have aspired to or live with contentedly? Are they on their way to better things - or maybe just different things? Do they live in frustration?

I'm sure the answer is "yes." There is certainly a mix of degrees of satisfaction from one person to another, as well as over the course of any person's life. But what about America being the land of opportunity? What about the idea of "two Americas" - the haves and the have-nots? I think it is dangerously easy for us mere mortals to be lulled into complacency, with opportunity scattered all around us. Maybe we want more from life, but things really aren't so bad as it is, and after all, change brings uncertainty, risk, possible discomfort. So we plod along.

But I also have a suspicion that many people are content with just getting by. Not everyone has the ambition to "get ahead." So I wonder what makes the difference between those who have that ambition and motivation and those who do not. Can it be acquired or is it innate? Does it even matter? Maybe it's ok that some people are driven and attain great material wealth, while others prefer to live differently and reap different rewards from life. Maybe one of the cruelest offerings of our society is the marketing of discontentment... telling people again and again that they have no reason to be content with less wealth. And "less" and "more" are always relative, and where is "enough?"

So I wonder, do you desire riches and great wealth? If so, do you have what it takes within you to get there? Are you up for the sacrifices as well as the rewards? If not, get over it. Be content.

An Afternoon Painting... and Coloring

Today Anna and Will joined me at the new house for the afternoon. I planned on painting, and came fully prepared with a bag-o-tricks that included coloring books, dolls, stuffed animals, and trains. A good time would be had by all. I also brought a portable crib and attempted to put Will down for a nap in his new room with the dolphin pulls on the ceiling fan that he loves so much (he shows everyone the dolphins). But alas! My little one whose favorite question is "Me stay up?" would have no part in sleeping this afternoon.

So I painted the trim in the front living room, and Anna and Will set out in their play, with the occasional skirmishes requiring my referee skills. After a while they settled down to color in the other room by the fireplace, and the music from the portable radio entertained my mind and set the rhythm for my paintbrush. I was moving right along, and then I realized... it was a bit too quiet in the house. That time-tested parental notion came to mind - when things are too quiet, it's time to see what they're up to. So I casually called out, "What are you guys doing?" To which Anna replied, "Don't come in here." Not a good sign.

(Let me preface what comes next by noting that Anna and Will had been playing around the house with their shirts off, which sounds odd, but Will's shirt was a bit too big and he was bothered by it so I let him take it off; thus Anna had to do the same, which I didn't see any harm in, so there they were.) So I tiptoe around the corner and come up behind the two of them. They look up at me with big grins. Anna had used a red marker to color her whole torso and parts of her legs and hands, while Will had chosen a black marker for his personal decorating. They had also doodled on their knees with a pen. The good thing was that I had been wise enough to buy only washable markers, so clean-up wasn't too terrible (although I think even after their baths, they had a faint coloring to them).

I did manage to finish the trim in that one room, and that's all for today. One thing is true: it is certainly a thousand times easier and more productive to work on a house without small children around! But you do what you can.

House Update

Yes, we're still working on our new house. But it's good. The carpet is in; the bedrooms and hall are mostly done; new ceiling fans are up; we've tiled one bathroom, torn out the kitchen floor (to prepare for tiling), and started priming/ painting four other rooms. So progress is being made. The air conditioner sort of works - I think it's been determined that the unit is too small for the size of the house, so it can't quite hold temperature when it's really hot outside (which is precisely when one wants the a/c to be working the most). But anyway...

As I am painting over the last occupants' vision of home, transforming this new house into a uniquely "us" part of the world, I am reminded of that show on HGTV - "Moving Up," I think it's called, where they show these people moving into each other's houses and making dramatic changes that the previous owners never imagined. I've never watched a whole episode, but I've seen bits of it a couple times. So anyway, a part of me is a bit sad for the previous residents because they obviously tried to make the place look nice and they probably (hopefully) liked it the way it was. And I wonder what they would think of our improvements. But then the other part of me often comes back with "What were they thinking?!" And so goes the transformation. By the way, if anyone really loves to paint (for free) and is half-way good at it, feel free to join in the fun!

Independence Day

"We the people - in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, secure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity - do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Preamble to the Constitution)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Declaration of Independence)

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." (Samuel Adams)

"America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." (Alexis de Tocqueville)

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." (John F Kennedy)

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." (Samuel Adams)

Dreams of the Future

A couple days ago at the park I met a little girl, Kaitlyn, who was around eight years old. She was very chatty with me, explaining that she has a "vertical twin" (meaning fraternal) named Kaelyn (how's that for some confusion?), that she drowned once and is afraid of the water, and that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet - or anything else - at 3:30 in the afternoon. She was there with a bunch of other kids in assorted sizes - siblings and cousins - and one adult woman (her aunt?). She said someone had gone to the store to buy some food to bring to the park. As surprising and sad as her lack of food was, I was even more shocked by her proclaimed aspiration for the future. Kaitlyn asked me, "You know what I want to be when I grow up?" "What?" I asked. She answered confidently, "A single mom." When I asked her why she wanted to be a single mom, she said "because moms are so good and they take care of everybody." I tried to persuade her in a few minutes that it is far better to be a mom with a husband, that it's very hard to be a single mom, and that she has plenty of time to find the right guy.

The encounter left me thinking... about our society, morality, and cultural differences between whites and blacks (or European and African Americans, if you prefer). Yes, little Kaitlyn was black, apparently being raised by a single mom who struggles to put food on the table (or in the park, as it were). One little boy with her, though, did manage somehow to have five or six silver teeth right in front (he's off to a good start in life, eh?). Priorities?

Questions... have we, as a society, gone so far out of our way to eliminate the "shame" and stigma of having babies outside of marriage that single parenthood has actually become an ideal to some (wasn't there a pregnancy pact at that MA school?)? What if by trying to "help" (ie - create acceptability), we have merely aggravated the situation and made life harder for the single parents, their kids, and future generations? If kids grow up in poverty partly because their parents didn't wait to become responsible adults before bringing them into this world, and they in turn repeat the cycle, bringing more kids into the world in poverty, where will it all end? How will the cycle ever be broken? Obviously the government and welfare don't fix people, or the problem would be fixed by now. Liberals love to talk about the poor, but their policies serve mostly to trap the poor in the cycle of poverty, while (oddly enough) securing their vote. What is the solution? I don't know. Cultural re-education? I sense the solution must somehow come from within the community itself, but how can that happen? Strong leaders with vision will need to come forth to correct and inspire. Positive role models need to step up. Maybe schools could bring in inspirational / motivational speakers on a regular basis. Concerned adults could reach out to kids as mentors. Can we imagine a truly better world and the way to get there?