25 Things

Did you do the 25 things meme on Facebook?   I tried.   But instead of 25 things, it became 25 paragraphs.    So I never posted it.   So I'm doing it now . . .

Here it is:

My parents still live in the house where I grew up.   I lived there from the time I was born until I was seventeen.   Since then, I’ve lived in ten different cities.  Brian and I have lived in this house for a little over five years and it’s the longest we’ve lived anywhere since we were married almost twenty years ago.  

Growing up with sisters did not prepare me for living in a house of boys.  

I was not prepared for the shocks of motherhood - the dueling feelings of overwhelming unpreparedness and inadequacy and overwhelming love.

I’m a better mother, wife, friend, and citizen on the days I go for a run at the beach.  It’s not a physical thing; it’s a mental thing. 

I’m writing a novel.   Most days I feel like I’ll never finish it, but I plug along.

I also paint, sculpt and make a little pottery, but writing is where I focus most of my energy.   

I love to hear Austin sing; I love to hear Will laugh - he has the best laugh ever.

I am not a housekeeper.    I’m quite lousy at it.    I feel guilty for not caring more that  I’m quite lousy at it.   We live in a chaotic mess of toys, books, unfinished art projects and stuff.

I love being outdoors.    I need my time outdoors everyday, even if it’s just to sit wrapped in a blanket and drinking my morning tea.   Most days I spend as much time as possible outdoors - having meals, reading, gardening . . .  I always choose the outside table at a restaurant and my workouts are always outside.    

Will started school last year, which made this the first year in almost ten that I have a huge chunk of everyday to myself.   I’ve gone from being totally disoriented to being stressed about how to fill my time to just sort of being.   

I detest all things PTA and school-volunteer related.   I’d much rather spend my volunteer time with whatever theatre company Austin is working with at the moment.   Theatre people are much more fun than PTA moms.  

Brian and I are counting the minutes to trade in this house for a smaller place at the beach.   We’re pretty close to beach now, but we can’t hear the ocean at night, yet.  We stay here for the school district.   If we ever make the decision to homeschool or send the kids to private school, we’ll be making the move a lot sooner. 

My favorite date night out is to go to dinner and hit the local blues bar for live music.   

My favorite day out with the girls is hitting the vintage clothing shops in West Hollywood.    

Most days and nights I prefer to have dinner on my deck and relax in my garden than to go out.

The highest compliment you can pay me is to come to my house and totally lose track of time.   Our last dinner guests, who were here about a week ago, left at 5:00 am.   Okay, maybe that was a little much.  

I am the daughter of a man who loves his work.   I am married to a man who loves his work.    I hope my sons find work they love.

I’ve lived in small towns, the downtown area of large cities and the suburbs of large metro areas.    Living in a funky neighborhood of a large city energizes me in way that living other places doesn’t.   I think my favorite lifestyle was when I lived in San Francisco and could walk everywhere I needed to go and my car stayed in the garage for weeks at a time.    

People ask me what it’s like to live in Los Angeles, and I tell them that quite honestly I don’t feel like I live in Los Angeles.    I live on a hill by the ocean, that’s sort of a mix of Suburbia, USA and Laid Back Beach town, and Los Angeles is a place I drive to occasionally.    I try to explain that LA is like any other city or town in that it’s made up of lots of different areas and neighborhoods each with it’s own soul and flavor.    It doesn’t feel like living in a metro area of 10 million people - unless I’m on the freeway at rush hour.   

And, yes, this is my favorite place I’ve lived.   It slightly edges out San Francisco because of the weather.   

We hope we are in California to stay this time.    Brian’s job means that we are probably here or in San Francisco.    When we talk about retirement, we talk about living somewhere along the Southern California coast - if not here, than some beach town somewhere between Santa Barbara and San Diego.   

I do miss my family and friends from the east coast and would like to see all of them  more often.   

Even though I’ve moved a lot, and I’m horrible at keeping up with people like I should be, I feel like I’ve traveled through this life with a pack of soul sisters who’ve always had my back, those whom I could call anytime day or night and they would be there to bail me out of any situation I find myself in,  and I would do anything for them in turn.   You know who you are.  

The biggest thing we fight about in this house is music.    I like blues and indie alternative, Austin is (currently) into old Michael Jackson, Queen and musicals, and Will is into John Williams’ movie compositions.     The only thing we can agree on is changing the station when Brian turns on NPR.    We are a house of music, though, and there is always music playing in the background of our lives.

We are a house of music, a house of art, a house where everyone is encouraged to create and freely express themselves.   My house isn’t always clean, my kids don’t always make it to school on time, but this is a place where creativity and self expression is encouraged and valued.   That’s the home I always want to have . . .  and now I do.