Morning Thoughts--The Furniture

My life is a bit chaotic at the moment. My casita is once again torn up. I bought some nice pine furniture.  I was expecting it to be delivered the next day so I took my place apart. The yard is filled with my stuff. And then the woman selling it said I can't have it until Saturday. It is a good thing that my landlord is gone for a month. He wouldn't have liked seeing my things in the yard. Chico likes it though. He sits out there in the evenings on one of the soft chairs.

This reminds me of a Ray Carver short story that was made into a movie or part of a movie, Short Cuts.  It is about a man whose wife left him. He put his entire living room out on the lawn and a young couple stopped by, thinking it was a yard sale. He even had electricity and he put on a record and danced with the young woman while the young man watched television from the couch.

Ray Carver was my creative writing teacher when I was at the University of California in Santa Cruz, many years ago. His teaching style was slash and burn. I remember how disappointed and angry I was whenever I would get my writings back. He had rewritten them all. There were so many red marks that I couldn't even read my own words. I wish I had saved some of those pieces--for a laugh. At myself and my attempts to write. He quickly dispelled that fantasy.

 But the point of this was his short story about the lonely man with all his furniture spread out on his  lawn. My furniture is on my lawn. I too am feeling lonely right now. Nothing like having things torn apart to bring out those feelings. But by Saturday afternoon, hopefully, I will be back in business with a casita filled with furniture, too much of it. As usual, I got carried away. I bought almost all of it.

The furniture was owned by a couple who came down here to retire. I don't know much of their story but it was sad. They bought a lovely condo with a spectacular view and a private pool and all this beautiful handmade wooden furniture. Three weeks later, there was an illness in the family and they had to put the condo up for sale and all of the furniture and move back north. My friend took me to see the furniture and of course I bought too many pieces that I am going to try to stuff into these two little rooms.

My mother would have said, "Don't try to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." But my mother was a practical cynic. I am an impractical optimist. A dreamer.

She made and saved money. I didn't. She bought houses. I didn't. I wrote stories, dreaming my life away. Now I am dreaming in Mexico. Lucky me. 

Envy can lead a person to do crazy things. I really wanted that condo with the view and private pool. Of course it was not within my means. So I bought the wooden furniture instead. It is not going to change this two room casita into a condo with a view and a private pool. It is only going to make it very crowded in here. I will be climbing over furniture to get from one part of the room to another. I am sure I will have to sell most of the pieces within a few weeks. (Anyone interested in buying some lovely handmade Mexican furniture?)

But I am lucky enough to be able to live here. For now, I don't have to go back north for medical reasons so my envy is totally unfounded. HEALTH TRUMPS WEALTH EVERY TIME......