... which arrived all the way from Seattle after residing with JJ for many years.
It fits snugly in the corner or our new dining room, as if it belonged there forever. Life partner stayed home to await the hutch's arrival, and I rushed home from work in excitement, especially because he let me know JJ had included a gift for me - beautiful smelling bath accoutrements for one of our bathrooms (or "Spas" as she termed them, when I called to thank her!). How did she guess they would match the third floor shower room, which is nestled right next to my newly developed study?
For now, I have placed two important gifts prominently on the hutch. An African picture picked out carefully and generously, and sent all the way from California by Marion for our new homecoming. The picture represents "moving" and "journey," so apt and meaningful, touching both our hearts - life partner and me.
The second is a wooden carving with Hebrew letters symbolizing space, letting go, and love, that Susan brought in person, accompanied by the gift of her Self, when she arrived all the way from Buffalo. She came especially to share in the new house with me. What an unforgettable visit she gave me! These past two days, we talked and talked - for hours, while walking for miles, eating good foods, sitting on the porch, or in various other rooms of our choosing - sharing and catching up on years of stories of our lives. My gratitude for Susan taking this time to spend together with me is simply impossible to describe.
The hutch joins the piano, which waits longingly for Gilad to stop by one day - who knows? The piano has special memories for me. It seems fitting and right that it stands across the room - facing- JJ's - now our - hutch - with gifts from two of my dearest, special friends. As I stand in the newly developing dining room, taking pictures to share with my readers, friends and family (who have been requesting pictures of our new home for weeks now), I realize that the new table and chairs are anxious to have a dinner party - house warming? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Shabat? Guests from afar - or near? Who knows?
I walk out of the dining room and find myself in the front section of the foyer facing the new rug we bought recently at a store close by ... Dragan allowed us to take it home and live with it for a few days before purchasing - to get a feel for it in the new space.
What can I say? I fell in love with this rug. I am not sure this has ever happened to me before - falling in love with a rug, I mean. Whenever I arrive in the foyer - either from the dining room, down the stairs, through the living room, or even by the front door - I gasp - catch my breath and feel a surge of excitement. Yes indeed. I would safely say that these are all symptoms of falling in love.
From the hutch, to the piano, and all the way through to the new foyer rug, our home is coming together - slowly but surely, bit by bit.
I realized these past two days with Susan's generous visit to me, how important it is to share my life with dear friends. I bid Susan farewell this morning, and watched her car disappearing out to the highways for her journey home to Buffalo. I wandered through the rooms where we had spent talking and sharing our past and present lives and realized that I was relaxed - feeling less anonymous than I have felt for the past almost six years in this new city.
My home has taken on a wholeness of me.
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