I'm a Silly Goose!

Good Morning on this Gorgeous SUNday (literally)!

I hope this e-missive finds you and yours happy and healthy.

SO I was babysitting for my 3 year old neighbour Janie* the other day and I say ‘you’re a silly goose!’ and she tilts her head to the side and repeats back to me ‘no, you’re a silly goose!’ which started a wee back and forth game which continued for the rest of the day.

Flashback: I am three years old and my Mom teaches at the Grade school (Primary school), St. Joseph’s in Cheltenham, PA. One of her students says to me ‘you’re a silly goose!’ and I repeat back ‘no, you’re a silly goose!’ and so the game continued every time I would visit.

The resonance of that moment 35 years ago is no less real, the thrill it gave me to find a ‘game’ with her students that we both understood. This memory adds something quite precious to the new interaction, passing onto the next generation as it were. Who knows, maybe wee Janie* will, in 35 years time say the same thing to another 3 year old girl or boy and a 70 year story continues.

I think about this as I prepare to leave Glasgow. Although I will not be departing (if all goes according to plan) till November (not putting house on market till begin September as am DIY tastic at moment in preparation), I have initiated my exit strategy. Part of this involves getting rid of most everything I own (via ebay/gifting/garbage). This is difficult as every item in my home has been carefully considered and placed; it is infused with my life.

I suppose in a way our homes become our museums, items reflecting both inner and outer journeys. And yet these things can also bog us down. The more we have the more we have to care for and the less time/energy we have to ‘look out’. The idea of boiling down my life to a solitary backpack seems positively liberating. No bills, no cares beyond myself. To travel as troubadours of times past, and placing that care, previously set for ‘my home’, into ‘our home’ – the world.

Maybe I am a ‘silly goose’ but somehow that legacy seems more real, then any object which I am prepared to release.

Lots of love, Kate E. xx