before i commence with my regularly scheduled entry, i have to give crazy mad “you rule!” props to cari. we were emailing this morning and she complimented my choice of quotes in the title of my entry yesterday. ah, happiness. it’s from the hunt for red october. people rarely get the quote; although many people love that movie, most people don’t love it to the degree or for the sentimental reasons that i do. (boring story, unless you are 1) me or 2) interested in the little details.) i am so pleased with cari. 🙂
just for the purposes of exactness, here is the exact quote: “and the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home.” although in the movie i could swear he leaves out the last two words and just says “as sleep brings dreams.” but that could just be the way i like to hear it. i missed a few words yesterday, as i always do. i remember the gist, but never the exact wording. anyway, it is a christopher columbus saying quoted in the movie by sean connery.
now that i’ve thoroughly ruined the quote with explanation, we’ll return to the entry i’d already planned for today.
when i moved here last summer, my mom made the drive from stanford to houston and stayed in town for a few days to help me get settled and acquire the basic things any apartment needs: shower curtain, tp, laundry detergent, lamps, etc. one day we went to linens ‘n things, where mom was captivated by the green plastic adirondack chairs stacked out front, $10 each. she bought me two of them.
for $10 plastic chairs, they are really comfortable. actually, they’re more comfortable than almost every other patio furniture i’ve ever sat on. for the first two weeks (one before and one after i went to mexico) in my apartment, before i had a couch, the green plastic adirondack chairs sat in my living room, the only seating i had to offer to my mom, and later my dad. when the couch arrived, the plastic chairs moved to their permanent residence on my balcony.
my balcony saw a lot of me last fall, but not much of me since. but last night the chairs, and the summer rain shower, were calling to me. i sat outside in the fading light and watched the lightning and the clouds, and listened to the rain. someone mows the grassy area between my apartment and the bayou, but they don’t go over far enough to get the tall grasses that grow on the edge of the bayou, right where the ground starts to slope down to the water. last night the wind blew through the grasses and made that rustling sound. the sky brightened and darkened at will as i sat and watched the rain. it was comforting. relaxing.
i also had a good conversation with my dad last night. i feel like he, at my age, felt the same sort of restlessness that i do. it’s nice to talk to someone who has more perspective.
today’s title is another half-quote. “i believe we have two lives, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that.” carter quoted it to me this weekend. i told him that i modify the quote into the life we live with, and the life we dream of living. if we’re lucky, we sort of get both.
