When I was a young adult I used to reckon that if I needed to I could take everything I needed in my life with me I could carry it all packed in a large rucksack - with guitar in one hand and a dog in the other. Having spent three days unpacking books in my new study - and that's not even in any particular order - I am shamefully aware that times have changed and that I possess a multitude of riches. The creation of my new studio and study is certainly a labour of love and ingenuity. Somehow it is enabling me to reclaim an identity and to celebrate so many things I have put on a back burner for much of my adult life; a passion for the creative arts and music; humour; scattiness; silence.
It has been a very healing experience to bring together the last of my parents possessions into my new space. They are finding their home in amongst my own belongings; everything from press cuttings and reviews to holiday snaps and certificates of achievement. I was looking at my father's old business books earlier which now reside in amongst my own writing and journalling books and they looked utterly at home. We inherit more than we realise.
I struggled quite a bit with the level of coverage given to Princess Diana when she died. The public emotional temperature seemed feverish and delusional. Now Jade Goody has died; a woman who has undoubtedly had a tough life and faced her death at an impossibly early age with fortitude, we are courting similar rituals once again. The flowers outside Goody's home; sychophantic TV presenters and commentators discussing her as a wonderful, courageous woman when they were the first to destroy her when her behaviour in The Big Brother house was gauche and inappropriate. What finally made me flip my lid was hearing the Bishop who blessed Jade's marriage speaking on Radio 4 on Sunday morning decribing her as a modern day saint. Hell's teeth - the Church really is becoming Hello magazine for the religiously inclined.
It is so good to hear you regaining your own/new/and old original and very uniqic identity. Wow it sounds very afirming. I am also relieved to hear I am not alone in feeling grieved at the hype given to both Princess Diana's and Jade Goody untimely deaths. It is so sad when there are thousands of women young and old who are going through simialar situations with dignity and courage and not getting the help they need because they either don't "shout" loud enough, or have the publicity to high-light their case. It angers me at the effect all this has on Jade Goody's children being thust into the lime-light. Well done.
Enjoy you wonderful peace, space and freedom. G
Posted by: Gwen | 03/24/2009 at 09:29 AM