when i am asked, "what do you miss most about canada?", i always answer "kraft macaroni & cheese dinner".
but i jest, of course i jest. i miss my family most of all, and then i miss kraft macaroni
& cheese dinner. but i also miss things like maple syrup, and browsable bookstores, and chips with gravy, and, especially, space.
a few weeks ago, we viewed - at my quiet insistence - a house-for-sale, and it had space.
well, i saw space: a kitchen large enough for a table and chairs, a generous study, bedrooms aplenty, endless storage, and nothing - oh joy, oh bliss - attached.
my husband saw, above all, chores: a roof that needed repair, a floor that demanded replacement, a lot of plastic panelling, fake brickwork and definitely-not-us colours that would grate, aesthetically, very quickly.
i fell in love, despite, and envisioned myself getting old(er) there; he envisioned
himself sanding and sawing to kingdom come.
*
sometimes twains meet; sometimes they don't. we'll see.
Are Dutch bookstores not browsable? So does that mean I browse them against all odds? Or even illegally?
ReplyDeleteI can send you some mac & cheese, Kraft, American - which I believe is exactly the same as Canadian.
ReplyDeleteYou don't miss hockey?
ReplyDeleteWe'll be in vermont again soon, and happy to get you some maple syrup. or maple syrup candies... Can't send you maple syrup ice cream, though.
Love the shot - - the separation from happiness is wonderful.
"No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful /
Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful"
-- TMBG
what you saw was the glorious perfection of imperfection. tell your husband that the meaning of life is hidden somewhere in the process of fixing up your cave...sawing till kingdom come. i could never buy a brand new house, because I'd feel guilty knocking down the new walls...but knock down walls I must, so it's been only fixer-uppers for us. Good luck, I hope you take the plunge.
ReplyDeleteMmm, don't get me started about what I actually miss from Italy, especially in the food department. True, in Boston I can almost find all ingredients, but the thrill of entering into a random cheap restaurant, sit down while the owner offers me the dish of the day (there is nothing else) and then being rewarded with the best unexpected dinner is something that simply doesn't exist here. Italian restaurants in US are expensive, and usually bad. In Italy the best places are the cheap unlikely ones that nobody knows...
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the house, but I kind of understand your husband. I have the same argument with my wife every time she thinks (and I admit she is usually right) we need some "home improvement"...
Here's hoping this is one of those twains-meeting times, if you really like it. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the contradiction in the picture. Better life starts here behind bars. Super!
ReplyDeleteThe story is great fun as well, sounds just like my wife and myself, only the other way around. I would see the possibilities, she would see the problems and inconveniences.
I've studied MBTI, which tells you why this is so.
Good luck whatever you decide.
Perhaps you will find a home-for sale that needs less "sanding and sawing", and is just as appealing to you. It's rare in life (in mine anyway) that one gets the first place they find. Usually there is a better fit somewhere... so keep looking. I hope you find your dreamhouse!
ReplyDeleteIf you crave the space, maybe the fix-up portion won't be so bad. Hopefully, though, you'll come to a compromise that you both feel good about. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI never eated kraft macaroni
ReplyDelete& cheese dinner. Sorry for that. But space, I love...
That's all about the duality of Life... of wonderment and work.
ReplyDeleteThe differing views you and your husband have remind me of Myers Briggs personality test... where one person sees the possibilities of "what if" the other sees the details of "what is"... you two might one to take those tests to see just how two mused you two are.
and peanut butter. I just brought back 2 kg of peanut butter from Toronto. It's not the same here at all - it's like the very peanuts are different.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about space. I love it when it means that the city is easier to walk around, but I do miss front yards with big trees.