July 04, 2001: take this waltz
Had my plans derailed today by a last-minute invitation from the southern branch of my family. "Come help us blow shit up. You know you want to."
They know me well.
Missed my trolley, walked up to the bus tunnel, bought my ticket, and arrived at the Sounder platform with eleven minutes to spare. Met my friends--three South African boys to one American girl--and the train pulled soundlessly out of the station. We talked about planes on the way down to Kent, and I learned all sorts of things about supersonic planes.
I made lists in my head as i looked out at Boeing Field. Things i'd forgotten to do at work. Things I needed to do tomorrow. Everything filed away just so. And now I almost wish I lived in Kent. The train is so very nice. So very quiet. Everyone spoke quietly. The swaying was hypnotic.
I fell into a train lull, mentally coming down from work headspace. I nodded and smiled at the boys and felt my whole body relax.
We were met at the train station by the van, went and got LL and her husband's parents, and set off for Puyallup. We arrived and piled out of the van, everyone exclaiming over the new kittens. There was food waiting, gumbo and cherries and all manner of good things, and we ate and talked and talked some more. We freed the trampoline from the weeds that held it to the ground and brought it close to the house, and I lay on my back on th trampoline and watched the clouds over my head.
It had been a while since i'd done that. Just laid and stared at the sky and watched time slip slowly by me.
I bounced a little bit. Went back to sky-watching. Listened to the conversations going on around me. Felt loved.
The sun went down and the moon rose, heavy and almost full. This, too, was a miracle--it had been such a long time since I'd watched the moon rise. It climbed up, bright enough to read by. B started setting off fireworks. Independence Day is his favorite holiday, because it involves fire.
He'd light the fuse and then dance away, waving his propane lighter in a victory pattern, and then the sparks went and we oohed and aahed over all of the pretty lights and the big bangs. I lay on the trampoline, curled up in a blanket, enjoying being outside. Thunder came by with sprigs of rosemary to rub on ourselves to ward off mosquitoes. (it worked. no bug bites for the Kris!)
this. this is good. this is where I belong. I didn't feel compelled to participate in conversations but I did anyway.
The moon slid higher in the sky as I lay on my back and watched and counted the stars and looked at Mars glowing redly by the horizon.
It's not all bad. It never is. I forget this, sometimes.
