I am seriously sitting here trying to find a way to cleverly tie in a tacky Poltergeist reference to the surprising, bright light that fills my basement staircase on sunny days, in the late afternoon, at this time of the year. But, one, I'm a lot less clever on cue than I used to be, and, two, maybe Carol Anne isn't pop culture blog fodder in two thousand and nine. Maybe you didn't watch the movie when you were quite young (what was I? nine? and why? on who's watch was this approved?) and maybe you didn't have years of nightmares and creepy feelings about it and maybe you wouldn't have any idea what I'm talking about anyway.
But if you were in the habit of walking up and down my basement steps so many times a day, as I am, you would also know how really remarkable it is to have such light fill the space. It's not an area that natural light typically reaches and the presence of sunshine is really an amazing thing. It is blinding and ridiculous.
For a few steps, it is so intense that everything else disappears into a flash of yellow white. There is nowhere else to look.
So at the risk of being overly sappy and incomprehensible, I will say that this light-filled staircase, these pictures, have been burning metaphors in my brain. This is a time of year when I have to buck up and own my resolve. I have to survey the effects of our previous choices and acknowledge that, yes, unconventional and off the main road and lacking infrastructure as they may be, it seems to be working for us.
Taking blind upward steps is tricky, but there is no sense in turning back once you've already gone halfway.
If you think this is about the starting "school year", you think correctly. Among other things. But for so many, September signifies a new start, a new routine, a new excuse to hitch a ride on someone else's program. And as much as this (this "not sending the kids to school") remains the best choice for all involved, when assessing all possible area choices, I admit that I can get a little envious. I have been the IDEA person for a lot of years. There is certainly a lot of awesome to be said about the flexibility of our lifestyle. But flexibility is a two-headed beast. There is also a lot to be said about having marked setpoints to navigate the rest of one's time by. And the determining and the planning and the enforcing of those setpoints is a challenge. For me. This year, especially. Today.
It's intense but quick. The self-doubt will shift and I'll be able to see where I'm going soon enough.
2 comments:
We have been having a similar back and forth, with a similarly clear realization that the homeschooling thing really does rock, as hard or worrisome as it is, and we do think it is best for our kids and our family.
Oh Poltergeist is in deep in my childhood memory as well. It was in fact the first scary movie I ever saw, at the movie theater itself, when I was just 8 years old. Really due to my own insistence--my older siblings were going and absolutely insisted and demanded that I be allowed to go with them.
And then had nightmares for YEARS about it. Certain scenes I can still recall vividly even now (that giant ghost spider thing?). And the clown doll my parents had given me the year before had to get hidden in a closet, for sure.
Post a Comment