Distressing Lack of Books

Books in our house are now at a premium. Everything is in storage somewhere in Hayward. Everything. We are so used to saying, "Oh, yeah, let's look that up" or "I know we have a photo of that in X book". Then you turn to the shelf where that book has stood for years, and it's not there. But you see it in your sad, deluded mind. They're like friends with very big vocabularies, just waiting to be consulted and visited from time to time. I tend to re-read books, specific ones in cycles. How nice it will be to see them all again, out of boxes, breathing, looking around at their new shelves, waiting for new friends from New Mexico funky book stores to take up residence as well.
In the meantime it is fun, though, to return to the public library, like when the children were young, and find books you weren't even looking for. Santa Fe has just opened a new library, it's second (at least, I think)---pretty good for a town of about 65K people. Hope it's open on Sunday.

Phone Number Challenge

If you could have the Pefect Phone Number what would it be? A new version of your childhood number? Something very symmetrical? For those of us who have esoteric opinions about things like address numbers, this dilemma is indeed burning. Our new prefix will be 98something. From there I come up with pleasing, lyrical combinations, check with the phone company and have my hopes dashed every time. Other people have commandeered my phone number creativity! Or maybe they don't even know what a good number they have. Margarita suggests contacting those with the best numbers and persuading them--gently--that it is in their best interest to surrender the number they clearly do not appreciate. I think I'll just go with the flow on this one. I shall accept the number the phone company has bestowed. At least it's not too horrible.

The Big Fight

No, not something lucrative on pay-per-view. This is the probably inevitable meltdown when two devoted and committed adults leap over the cliff called "Selling a House". Don't worry--no dirty laundry here, just the admission that the lows in this process come to us all, sneak in at unsuspected moments, and ultimately remind us to look on the bright side!
What did I say earlier about rut-ville? It's now more like traversing a mine-field. Where are those darn sappers anyway?

A Restless Native?

The native is from San Francisco. Now there's a place to leave after 20+ years. Born there. Educated there till college. Ten years away in higher education. What will become of me when I no longer have the cachet of nativity, detailed knowledge, and an elaborate history? I guess there's something to be said for re-invention. Or maybe just a little re-arrangement of the pieces I like best and casting off those I regret. It's all a good obstacle to scale, though, and keeps me (with luck) out of rut-ville for the next few years.
I am happy with the move to a place that is inland but also desirable. Those of us who relate to the New Yorker cover of the northeast coast and the California coast as the only two bastions of civilization girdling a wide swath of hinterland and barbarity can, I hope, see that I am striving here to move beyond the provincial and look for value and depth outside my comfortable, (smug?) position as the San Franciscan.

In the Light of Day

I hope the various mental challenges of this process will preclude my ever succumbing to senile dementia (Remember when Alzheimer's was called that? Is it better or worse when we have some researcher's surname to define a general term?).

A few words to the wise:
1. Do not collect Too Much Stuff. Stuff just becomes a burden when it comes time to dispose of it. Very few things are worth carrying through one's life. Very few. Even books---and I revere books.
2. Never let lag any paperwork about your rental or house purchase. It's not fun to have to scamper to finish things up before moving/selling.
3. Remember that all-in-all one is very lucky to have a roof over one's head, indoor plumbing, people you love who love you, and health. Easy to say but hard to synthesize.

I guess that's it. When one lies awake at 3:32 am with these things in mind it helps to make complete sentences of them in the light of day.

Friends

Strange to think about living in a place where everyone will be of new and short acquaintance. We're leaving a place with friends of nearly 20 years. That is a history of fun, mistakes, forgivings, understandings, some dramas, and many layers of knowledge of one another. A creation of texture and time. Of course, that won't disappear; it just won't be as accessible as before. So the challenge is to look inward and rely on that history as a way of moving forward. And in the meantime I shall miss everyone very much.

In Limbo

Now that our house in SF appears to be sold, gone, spoken for, we look east/southeast- ward to our hew house in SFe, whose signature artwork is on the front page of this site. The horsemen of something----I think they're soldiers of the Peninsular War era. What was happening in New Mexico in 1800? Have to check on that.
At any rate, they grace the entry wall to the house and have a jolly "we're off to something" air, so they seem an appropriate talisman. The horses look pretty fun. Maybe I can find something similar in SFe.