Tuesday, November 23, 2010

New House Day -- I hope


The calendar and the beautiful bare-limbed trees say it is really November, but it did not feel like November at seven AM, when the porch thermometer read 64 degrees--warmer than when I fed the porch cats last night.

The temperature and wind foreshadowed rain, which came pouring down in sheets within moments after a morning walk with Rosie dog.

Today is the day, that our new double-wide house is suppose to be delivered--having signed away our financial life for the next twenty years yesterday. Neither of us could sleep much last night. Anxiety and anticipation mixed in equal amount. Much to be excited about, much to be grateful for, yet there are worries, too.

This is necessary. The old house is becoming unlivable (toilets that don't work properly, plumbing that springs major leaks every six months or so, floors that are rotting with more and more holes covered with temporary boards, major ceiling leaks, an oven that stopped working, an old furnace on its last legs), but experts say that renovation is not appropriate, given that the house was improperly installed more than 30 years over an open 2 to 3 foot pit where a lake of water sits most of the year.

We are excited about a new house, where everything works, and cold drafts don't sift through every room. But we've become accustomed to life without a house payment in the last couple of years, and suddenly taking on new payments, significantly higher than the old ones has us scared. It's been so many years (4 now) since the community college faculty and staff have had any raises.  It's hard to imagine that they will ever come again. Thus, anxiety tempers the elation of something new.

Life is so fragile.  Within the past months, several of my friends, students and former students have lost a spouse suddenly in devastating events (homicide, drunk driver accidents, work accidents). By comparison our anxiety over the financial burdens of a new house seem trivial--and so we will muddle on through I'm sure, and nights of good sleep will ultimately return.


Footers in the rain (10 AM)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

let there be peace on earth...

...and let it begin with me and mine.


Check out the Blogblast for Peace on blogs and Facebook.

A. J. Muste once said that there is only as much peace as there are peaceful people.

"This is your only life--live it well!
No one man can bring about a social change--
but each man's life is a whole and necessary part of his society,
a necessary step in any change,
and a powerful example of the possiblity of life
for others.
Let all of our words and our actions speak the possiblity of
peace and cooperation between men.
Too long have we used the excuse:
"I believe in peace, but that other man does not--when
he lays down his arms, then I will follow."
...
Let each man begin a one-man revolution of peace and
mutual-aid--so that there is at least that much peace...
a beginning...
Chuck Matthei, contained within a poem by Denise Levertov "Staying Alive" Part II