August 16
I have no idea what was in my head just now when I wrote those words.
1966 (en route from Mexico to Connecticut)
Hot again, but not too bad. We made it to Meridian, MS. This motel is great. The pool is warm, though. Mr. D says two more days will do it. HOME!
1979 (MD)
Yesterday was an odd day. Activities and feelings wrapping around each other like layers of an onion. I went from a flush of confidence to a crash dive into absolute emptiness. I had so many plans for the summer, and I have accomplished so few of my goals. I just re-read my journal from last summer, and saw the same pattern. The main difference is the greater intensity in my resolutions this year and much more to do. The result is a greater sense of failure. I am still paying the price for overcommitting myself last year. The debt may not be fully paid until NEXT summer. The important thing is to slow down and establish a FEW priorities, including the completion of unfinished business. It’s been a year of surprises and postponements, which has made it a year of frustration. It has also been a year of growth, much as I would have liked to see some of that growth manifest itself in published form. That will come.
Progress report on summer goals:
Done:
Job application
Plan AATCC DC field trips
Almost done:
Vintage clothing independent study
Smithsonian project
Textile science independent study
Not even half done:
Dissertation review of literature
Course prep
Sewing projects
Not on the goal list, but done:
qualifying exams
finally attended a National Town Meeting
Good start on Home Ec Research Journal articles
Planned ACPTC conference field trip
Apartment hunting
Tenant organization (newsletter, petition, hearing, meetings, etc.)
Painted kitchen cabinet doors
Moved historic costume and textile collect to new space, organized it.
Most important, I have learned about myself this summer, in my approaches to planning and time management. I am more organized, and the housework is falling into place more and more.
“Like what?”, she asks, trying to coax that jumping bean brain to stop hopping from one thought to the next. “Tell me exactly what you know and what you are going to do about it.”
I work well at home until about 9:30 AM. Then I get restless - - might as well go into campus. 8 AM to 2 PM is my peak energy period. I can fling myself into schmoozing, reading, writing, etc. with abandon. From 3 PM to 8 I am as ambitious as a jellyfish…food is very much on my mind, but I may be too tired to fix anything. 8 to 10 PM is Guiltland. I may do something, usually not too well.
Comment 2023
Still true.
Comment 2024
Finally getting over being overcommitted.
1981
The day before I return to work. Jim and I, after 11 years of marriage and discussion, have decided to have a child. (Or at least try.) Maybe we’re being very naive, and it isn’t going to happen on cue. But we’ll try real hard. (Grin) I figure if I get pregnant by early October or even November…that would mean a due date in June or July. December would be August (early?). At any rate.
I said “It’s like planning a vacation - - I’m not saying it’ll go perfectly smoothly, and I’m not saying it won’t be expensive…what I want to know is: do you want to go on the trip?” He said, “Yeah!”
And that, my dear son and/or daughter, is your beginning. The day I saw the gleam in your father’s eye. It feels more like daughter and/or son, since I have a name already for a girl.
What a very strange conversation.
Comment 2023
Yes, I really said that, and he really said “Yeah!”, with a tear gleaming in his eye. (He’s an emotional guy.)
1997
How many…
I have no idea what was in my head just now when I wrote those words, or how the sentence was supposed to end. I am feeling very satisfied with my own deviousness. When Jim and Kiddo 2 left for soccer practice, I filled 4 bags and boxes with unread and never-to-be-read-again books. Out!! Out!! Then I consolidated the shelves so the gaps won’t show AHA!!!
Next: Pop-Pop’s stamps. (Ooooh!)
Comment 2023
And people wonder how we did such a good job of downsizing for our move in 2020. My secret: two decades of “stealth” downsizing when my family wasn’t looking. When someone would ask me where a thing was, I would answer, quite truthfully, “I have no idea”. Because once it left the house, I didn’t keep track. It took me over twenty years to find a new home for Pop-Pop’s stamps, but I finally did.
2009
2022 (NYC)
A quiet day of reading, knitting, and listening to music while Carol worked. Then a trip to the Museum of Arts and Design to meet college chum Valerie. We had beers and apps at an ok pub afterwards, then home and bed.
2023
I am a free woman again! Tested negative yesterday, so we are both out of quarantine. I had hoped it would be a writing day, but it ended up being a bit of a catching-up day instead. We wound up our first day of freedom with beer and pizza at Franklin’s, trading snark with our favorite bartender, and meeting the new brewmaster. I also reserved tickets for Shah Rukh Khan’s next movie, which opens in September. Interesting: the theater has showings in three languages: Hindi, Telegu and Tamil. That’s a first.
I am so ready for summer weather to ease off.
2024
Substack is so good. It’s like the biggest library in the world, open 24/7, chock full of good reading and wonderful art. And right in the middle is a giant coffee shop called Notes where you can hang out with the creators and the conversations never stop, and rarely disappoint. I wish I could draw my imaginary Substack/Notes place.