this is brittany writing.... hello!
Week 1 has been all about ripping out carpet, finding creative new uses for the Cocomotion® that was heartlessly left behind in the cupboard, and trying to remember which house or box held whatever it was we were looking for. We’ve been here 7 days - exciting, full and very good days.
It was the 104 degree weather that brought the launch date for the Ruscliffe Oikia up a week. Seeing no reason to sleep at our old homes in the hot stuffy weather while the new house boasted AC, we all came over last Tuesday with our camping gear and “moved in.” That began our week-long, one car-load at a time moving strategy. FYI, we do not recommend this strategy. But we do recommend moving with friends, because overall things are less stressful when we’re in it together. Huge thanks to all of our wonderful friends who put in so much hard work on Sunday to finish off the move. We are so grateful.
Back on Day 1 – Minute 5, Emerson had an experimental moment where she thought it would be cool to express her little heart in a mural on the living room wall. Her assignment after some wall scrubbing was to go to Christina, Marc, Daniel and myself and say “I’m sorry for drawing on your house.” Standing akimbo after her sincere apology to me, she said in a very serious and philosophical tone, “Wait, whose house is this anyway?” A darn good question.
I explained that it was all of our home. It was her mommy and daddy’s home and it was mine and Daniel’s home too. She considered this for a moment and then with a quirky smile said, “Okay!” and gave me a hug.
For Emerson, living in community means that these aren’t her walls to draw on, but there are twice as many grown-ups to petition for snacks. We’re all having these kinds of realizations. I’m sure that over the weeks and months to come, we will each have moments where we draw on the wall, forgetting that it’s not just ours. This life, it’s not just mine – a lesson that worth learning that calls for a good bit of un-learning along the way. So until then, we trust that the simple spiritual practices of listening and considering each other, sharing, cleaning and unpacking are shaping us. And, we are thankful that there are twice as many hands to paint and cook and clean, twice as many opportunities to be smiled at, touched and taken care of.
7 days in, so far, so good.
1 comments:
Great post, Brittany. You captured the hardest thing for me in the story of Emerson. Remembering that these are not all my walls to write on - at least not without a conversation or two first. It will be interesting early on for some of us to keep working on exercising the muscle of counsel and collaboration, when in our own areas of strength we're just not used to doing that much. Sure I'm talking about me... but I'm not the only one.
:-D
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