Quiet chaos

oldcabinThe Old Cabin is a lot different now than it was when I was a child and spent my summers there. Back then, over where the Lake Superior thingie Michigan map (roughy roight iPhone autocorrect on a blahg correction!) hangs behind the ladder, is where I was sometimes put to bed as a small child. There was a homemade bed there and curtains that could be drawn around the bed. The parents would tuck us in back there and pull the curtains closed and then they would sit in front of the faaaarrr and talk. Eventually I think we would be moved to whatever beds they had decided we should sleep in for the night or, if we lived in town, taken to town. I remember feeling so comfortable falling asleep hearing our parents and grandparents talking and laughing with the faaaar crackling in the background.

In my life, I usually fall asleep better if there is a little noise around. The quiet kind of noise, not jets taking off over my motel room, mind you. But I always feel more comfortable if there are folks around doing their business. Like once a long time ago after I drove over to Kzoo to pick up Lizard Breath and some friends on a Friday. Liz took Mouse out to a concert that night. The GG was rattling around up north somewhere and I was home alone. It was pretty quiet. I decided to I couldn’t continue to read whatever book in the Silence of the Lambs series book I had been reading so I picked up the most recent New Yorker only to read about “hamburger” on the sidewalks of Dresden in WWII… Finally turned on the TV only to find some awful horror movie. I did not get to sleep that night until my children came home at something like 2:00 AM and somebody took a shower. I think it was Mouse but it doesn’t matter. It was okay. I wasn’t home alone any more and there was some comfortable noise in the background of my life.

Last summer, my cuzzint Jay spent a night here at The Landfill in what was then the messiest guest bedroom on earth. It has since been almost totally decluttered and is a comfortable space for one person (usually Lizard but occasionally the UU). The point is that some neighbors were having a bit of a party that night. I was concerned that Jay might have trouble sleeping. Her response was that she slept better when there was a bit of noise and she thought that was because of spending summers in the Old Cabin as a small child. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

No solicitors tonight [knock on wood]. Front door is shut and locked. G’night. KW.

3 Responses to “Quiet chaos”

  1. Margaret Says:

    I like the comforting noise out the open window–faraway trains, some frogs and an occasional car. I live in a quiet area(unless the military planes are flying low over my house), but not silent.

  2. Pooh Says:

    If you look carefully at the logs, you can still occasionally find a cup hook from the curtained days. However, sometimes Harry needs a cup hook someplace else, and they get recycled. It intrigues me that your mind looks through the viewfinder, and the ladder and sees Lake Superior. A closer look will reveal the topography of Michigan, but if you turn around 180 degrees, you will be looking at Lake Superior. (Well, technically the Upper St. Mary’s River, but it looks like a lake!)
    Love to you, the Lake, and the Old Cabin: “May she stand forever!”

  3. jay Says:

    I wonder if squirrels like to fall asleep to the sound of people chatting quietly