Breaking the Silence
From now on, our posts are in real time.
Dear Betsy,
I’m trying to stop thinking of this post as too precious. We ran out of emails a few weeks ago, precisely when each of us began to have big things going on, and then enough time passed since our last post that I got nervous about breaking the silence. Silly! And so, here I am.
Just like in June, I’m sitting in my parents’ living room; it’s rare for me to visit here twice in one summer. And like last time, I feel like this long-planned trip comes at the perfect time to disrupt the groove I was settling into back at home.
I have some biggish plans brewing for this fall but I can’t really talk about them yet, so on the one hand I’m excited because I know I’ll be doing what I set out to do this year (writing a lot about things that fascinate me, with people I admire and respect), but on the other I can’t spill the beans yet so my satisfaction must remain private for a little while longer.
I can, though, say some things. Two-thirds of the way through my year off, I found myself itching to work again. Seems I’m not very good at chilling out. Actually, that’s not right. What I don’t much enjoy doing is sitting in a vacuum trying to do lots of stuff on my own. I love dreaming up grand plans, of course. I was going to learn to quilt this year, and make a giant one. I was going to learn how to sew other stuff. I was going to embroider things for our house. I was going to write fiction and essays and all sorts of other stuff. I know myself well enough not to chastise myself for not doing those things; I’m happy to stop at the dreaming stage. It’s good enough to be reminded of how much I need collaboration. On my own I’m a dreamer. With others I’m a doer.
I suppose this post is still precious enough that I can’t quite get past writing generalities. But perhaps now we’ll forge ahead without having to worry about breaking the silence.
x
Kim
