Thursday, October 22, 2009

Movin' Out

The test of time appears to be the most standard of all tests, and the easiest to do. Unless you die, of course, in which case you didn't stand the test of time. The instructions for carrying out the test of time look something like this:
  1. Do
  2. Wait.
  3. See what happens.
I say that because I am typing this from a room other than my office, a room that -- up until now -- was off-limits. I speak, of course, of the Room Formerly Occupied by The Daughter. Who moved out. Many things were left behind, among them one blue, blue room with a wide variety of stains on the rug, holes in the wall, and evidence of a paint job gone horribly wrong.

But it has a great view, which is one of its blessings and one of its curses. The blessing is, of course, the view. But the same contrivance that enables the view -- the window -- also enables that other consequence of sunshine: heat. It gets pretty warm in here, mostly because it's a south-facing room with little or no shading. The cats love it, with the exception of the New Cat, who still hasn't gotten used to the fact that she doesn't have to spend her life hiding. Sometimes, we tell her, a little sunshine is just what you need.

But this isn't a post about sunshine. Ostensibly, according to the title, it's a post about moving. Children growing up and moving out (or, more accurately, moving out and then growing up), adults moving around, finding the right space.

I believe it was Buckaroo Banzai who said "Wherever you go, there you are!" I could be wrong, but I have The Google with which to verify things like that, and The Google tells me that I am... mostly right. Buckaroo Banzai used a variation ("No matter where you go, there you are!"), but the original appears to have been coined by Thomas a Kempis, in The Imitation Of Christ, ca. A.D. 1440.

So here I am, and here is where I happened to be when I penned this, although I am no doubt elsewhere at some point in the future which -- as luck would have it -- is the past for you, for the moment in which I originally penned this (typed, actually) has passed.

So there you have it. Tryouts for a new office, cats, prodigal daughters, and sunshine, all in one post. Next!