February 15, 1965
Gripes and travels
February 15, 1965
Rehearsal Tonight! I hated it! C didn't get to sing, and neither did S. T kicked off her shoe and hit the ceiling. There's a big scrape in the hall acoustical tile now - about 5 feet from the dent I put in a month ago. V was absent today! Baw! I HATE THE TALENT SHOW!
February 15, 1997
Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t feel like doing the armchair explorer exercise. I don’t need to. I know I would be heading to Scandinavia in midsummer and then following the sun northward to the time and place where it never sets, just moves around in the sky. Yowser. And back to Lund, and the Auf Chapman, and the convent hostel where we stayed. What a beautiful place.
And maybe Hungary. But why? Today is a half day, just to get some admissions stuff done. I need to do this, or I won’t have my precious mornings of exercise and rest.
Blessed be the morn for me and mine.
February 15, 2023
Another slice of my life that feels like each layer was written by different people. Fifteen year old Jo was annoyed. Annoyed with herself for agreeing to accompany two classmates on the piano for the talent show. Annoyed with V for being absent from rehearsal. The dents in the ceiling bring a smile, though. For several years after I graduated, I would visit the school to check if they were still there.
Forty-seven year old Jo was talking back to Sarah Ban Breathnach, who wanted her to to journal in response to a particular prompt. The thing about prompts is sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, you should feel free to ignore them. I was also still savoring our 1995 family trip to Sweden. We went just a few months before Jim’s workplace went bankrupt, to see the Women’s World Cup. Even with a package deal from a fan group, and staying in hostels most of the time, it was a splurge to take all four of us to Europe. But it still stands out as a magical experience. After Jim lost his job, my mom asked if we regretted spending so much on the trip. No, Mom, not a bit. Look at those happy faces! And it was so much fun we did it again twenty years later.
Look at me in 1997, being all organized and intentional about planning my work, exercise, and leisure. So proud of you. Love, me.