Today I sang Chinese opera in my own shower. I think it was Chinese opera. I've only seen one and the review said it was too Western, so (if the review was correct) my judgement is probably not the best.
We are home in Berkeley, and I was in my own beloved, art deco green and purple tiled bathroom. I wanted to sing but I was feeling strange and none of the familiar arias would do it for me. I wanted big sound and reverberation, but not sentimentality (which so many of the great western operas live on). I decided to try on tones and tunes for healing power. I was taught to do this with clothes and colors by my friend Mia. Did it feel good? New? What did it make me feel?
No recognizable arias came out. Instead weird combinations and phrases filled the house. I wondered if any of our children would respond as this was music they'd never heard before. I wondered if neighbors might be irritated (the windows were open and I am loud).
Adeline opened the door and stared at me. She was intrigued and skeptical. She shut the door.
We are home now. Home. Home. Home. Home is a place, for me, where it is safe enough to bring the weird experiments and lessons learned for testing. We try on testing of new ways of eating (Comte for breakfast thanks to Amaury and Clotilde) and schedules. The kids try on naughty playground behavior on their family to see what it's all about. Mom sings weird music loudly.
I love home. We are so safe and happy here despite the experiments. The kids are so happy to be back that they have made up a sequence of songs. All of the lyrics are the same, "It's good to be home," with one exception, "It's great to be home."
It was 76 days that we we were away. We went to Amy and Brad's beautiful wedding in Sonoma Valley on June 14. Our kids were wild. Amy and Brad were grounded and glowing... a perfect anchor to our trip. We left on June 16.
We returned on the evening of August 31. The boys' school began the next morning.
George had been nervous about kindergarten. He said he would be too shy. He was scared. He would cry, etc... On the morning I dropped him off, he looked up at me from his kindergarten activity table and asked, "Why am I not shy?" I answered him but he was not listening. He was doing a puzzle with 2 friends. He looked up again and said very sweetly, "Mom? Why are you still here?" And I was out of there! It's only now that I realize I was more sad than he.
Cole's MK preschool class at Ecole Bilingue was filled with many of his old friends. He checked out the new teachers and spread himself out on the main rug to play. Cole transitions, on the surface, much more easily than George, but it takes him a long time to trust anyone. I wonder why that is.
When all of the kids came into the house for the first time in 76 days, George checked out his room and his beloved Giraffie. Adeline counted her butterflies. Cole went straight for the costumes. He pulled out every costume and accessory from his costume drawer and put them ALL on. Grandma Sheri and I watched in amusement (there are at least 4 pants underneath the Hans Solo spandex ones).
He took his daily routine and turned it up a few notches... Cole's weird experiment at home always was a weird experiment at home!
But as the song goes, "IT IS GREAT TO BE HOME!" It just requires more washing.
Hey Coley!
Love the image of you singing what might have been Chinese opera in your deco shower. Welcome home. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog all summer and have been amazed at all the pics and how you all coped with the unpredictabilities of such a creative undertaking. But that is you in a gorgeous nutshell. How beautiful that I should read this today before heading out to the Katonah Art Museum's exhibition of Dress as Metaphor:)
Clothes and colors, tones and tunes,
Mia
Posted by: Mia | September 06, 2009 at 08:45 AM
I love it! Dress as Metaphor! How was it? Much love to you, Coley
Posted by: Renee Clyde | September 09, 2009 at 09:26 AM