Monday, April 03, 2006

the long-forgotten art of amnesia

So, about this “rest” idea. I’m sold, all over again. Yesterday was wonderful. It was great to be back at church after four weeks (!) away. (Sick one week, and then I took the Great Midwestern Church Tour: one Sunday at two Oklahoma churches, one at a church in Nashville, Tennessee, a Saturday service in St. Louis, and last week Sunday in O’Fallon, Illinois. Next up? How about the Great Church Potluck Tour? I could have sausage and lemon meringue pie in fifty states!)

After church I headed to a coffee house, where I read (for fun!) for over two hours. Luxury of luxuries! A mug of coffee, a bagel, and Charming Billy, by Alice McDermott. I’m trying to finish the book before the Festival of Faith and Writing, where I’m planning to meet McDermott in a small group session. I really want to be prepared! And the book is excellent so far.

Then back to the apartment for a long, leisurely day. It was great. Did a little knitting, a lot of reading, and some fun research for class. (I can see you, rolling your eyes over the idea of “fun research.” But I really mean it. For my senior seminar class, I have to write “the paper I need to have written before graduating.” Isn’t that the best prompt ever for a paper? I’m planning to take the next year to establish a writing career, so for senior sem, I’m writing a beginning writer’s plan for the first year. Trying to collect tips on time management, submissions, organization, and encouragement. And I just get so excited. So yes. It truly is fun research.)

I stretched the day as long as I possibly could before falling asleep. And one of the best parts of the whole day was this: I practiced hard-core selective amnesia. No kidding. I destroyed every thought of scary deadlines, looming assignments, neglected emails, disorganized desk drawers, the trash, the dishes, the laundry. I gleefully shut out any commitment that will fall due or event that will take place in these next few weeks. And I truly felt that I would be spending the rest of the semester doing what I did all day. Flipping through a book on Max Perkins, reading Charming Billy, and shuffling through a stack of writing magazines. Knitting occasionally. Pestering my friend Jen as she typed away at her laptop. Staring off into space.

This morning, reality hit kinda hard. Ooh. Here come all the deadlines, assignments, emails, messes, trash, dishes, laundry, commitments, and events, with their loud voices and big clubs. Rats.

So I’ve got the idea of resting on Sundays down… how to navigate the rest of this sticky week? One day (hour, minute, second) at a time?? Or should I sneak under an unknown carrel in the library, with a full supply of books and chocolate, and let the rest of the semester fall where it may?

Not a bad idea. But I think I have to tough it out.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 04/03 at 10:38 PM
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