Hey there!
Phew, it’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these! Book writing has taken up many of my moments, but I wanted to share this little bittersweet memory with you. Why? I dunno, it’s a thing writers do, I guess.
Check out this… beauty:
Lemme explain…
Okay, I know. It’s, well, ugly. Wait, ugly is too strong… it’s simply not pretty. It’s also incredibly sentimental, and that makes it beautiful (to me).
This funky piece of fabric inside this huge frame is actually an old roll up shade from my grandparents house- The Den, specifically. It was something I HAD to have after my grandparents were gone & house remodeled.
By all modern standards, that room was ‘not pretty.’ Burnt-orange shag rug. Six of those roll up shades. Two chocolate-brown corduroy sofas, with twin mustard-yellow, lion emblazoned wool blankets folded over the backs. (Oh, and if you slept on those sofas, you woke up with fierce corduroy lines on your face that looked like prison bars.) A painted white, brick fireplace. You get the idea. But let me tell you, that was the greatest room ever. Music would blare from the cabinet stereo, or Abbott and Costello (then, later in the day, football) from the old tube television. A cozy fire crackled in the fireplace.
You walked into that room- my grandparents den- and it was like… nothing else in the world. And you know what? Nothing yet has compared to The Den.
Anyhow, this big rectangle of not pretty gets prime real estate in my office, by my desk, so I can see it while I write. I can feel a life time of memories whispering from that fabric. I can see the moments when through the threads. It’s a beautiful thing. Even if it’s technically ugly. I’m pretty sure there’s a life lesson in there somewhere…
Anyhow…
That’s all there is to say about that. Just wanted to share my something special. Until the next time…
