Susan’s Journey
Susan left Sunday morning and called later that evening from The Green Roof Inn in Girard, Pennsylvania, which is an I-90 town mighty close to the Ohio Border. Tonight she hopes to make it to the pet-friendly Burnham in Chicago. And from there, weather permitting, home.
I’m still marveling at this adaptable woman. Leaving the order of Torroemore to move in with us, in all of our near-finished or given-up-on chaos, not to mention our way over-committed social life, without a sign of complaint. Yeah, you say that’s easy given we’re all family, but imagine five weeks of trudging to the dungeon that is our basement to do your laundry, the kitchen drawers that fight back as you attempt to open them, the overly occupied bathroom, not to mention our icy driveway that remained a hazard worse than the slopes of K2 for most of her visit.
I know we’ll miss her, but I don’t think I’ll have to strain to hear that sigh of relief when she walks into her house tomorrow night.
Frying pan to fire’s not the most appropriate analogy, but perhaps wringer to washing machine … Not an easy landing, and it’s hard to say whether y’all needed her here more than she needed to be here or what.
Irrelevancies aside, it was nice to be able to visit with her. Sorry she declined our brunch (though for logical and honorable reasons all), but deference is part of why she’s able to gracefully visit here — or the Wactonites Torroemore — at some length.
And what’s with those drawers? Anybody know a carpenter Diane could call?
Comment by el Kib — January 3, 2006 @ 8:39 am
It’s the clutter inside. Too many ice cream scoops.
Comment by michael — January 3, 2006 @ 9:50 am
Yes, Torroemore is orderly — a place for everything and everything in its place. And the laundry is light and bright and convenient. And the place is so pretty, which I somehow forgot while surrounded by the Canning-Miller life. Even enveloped in fog. as it was when we drove in, it is a welcoming home. But, especially without Jimmy in it, it is too far away. Were it closer (so that weekly attention could be given), the organization of those drawers in the kitchen at 136 would knock your socks off.
Comment by FierceBaby — January 3, 2006 @ 7:25 pm
Well the solution seems clear: trade Torroemore for that condo overlooking Boston Harbor.
You’d be swapping two versions of pretty, and you could return home from 136 frequently, leaving drawers tidy, with an interim stop at 15 Sunnyside for a poodle play date, and also be handy to express your creativity tiling our new mudroom (when, if ever, the missing carpenter, deigns to finish the project).
Comment by smiling Dan — January 4, 2006 @ 8:04 am