Disappointment

Friday 2 January 2009

I was online this morning... this after being online late last night... after having been up late the night before which was New Year's Eve... and so I have got completely off my schedule. I ate breakfast in my room and then decided to have a bath and get out of this house, go somewhere, do something, even just have a ride down the coast or across to the bayside or anything. So I had a nice warm bath in my bathroom here, soaking in hot water and staring out at the greying sky till when I got out I noticed it was snowing. Yes-- there out on the bay, between us and the barrier island, light white flakes are blowing round in the air.

I wrapped in a towel and went out to the gallery where I could look westwards-- and yes, there I saw even more of it, nearly obscuring the road from my view. 'Grrr!' I said to myself.

Jessy came round the corner then, in her long navy-blue robe, and high-heeled slippers-- and probably nothing else! --and heard me. 'What are you "grrr'ing" about?'

I pointed, still clinging to the towel. 'Look at it.'

She looked out the window with me and nodded. 'Janine, this was forecast for today.'

I stamped my foot. 'I wanted to go out!'

'And do what? Look, Daddy's back, and Josie's coming over, and we're going to play Apples. That is, if you are.'

I nodded, reluctantly. Oh, I love playing Apples to Apples. It's always fun. And Mother will make hot cocoa and we will all sit in the kitchen with a fire, we elders playing Apples to Apples and the little ones playing whatever else on the floor. It's what we're best at as a family. But I have been in this house since we went to the movie last week and it gets a little stifling.

Oh, I don't really mean that. Back 250 years ago, playing something like Apples to Apples was typical. I would have been staying inside most of a winter, doing laundry (by hand), baking (all day), sewing (for charity), and reading (when permitted to). I would have been wearing much more clothing than I usually do here and taking it off much less often and having a nice warm bath maybe once a month-- if it was warm enough-- and not once a day. And all my other prospects-- like about dating, which was only for the purpose of finding a husband-- would depend on the weather and my father's inclinations and the available guys in the neighbourhood or at church. A girl my age lived for a dance once or twice a year-- it was the only other social life any of us would have had. Everything else revolved round the family.

And so I really can't complain about having to stay in with my family. They accept me for everything that I am and never judge me. And they are interesting and amusing and intelligent and supportive. I mean, I could have much worse company. And so I guess I will go down stairs and play Apples to Apples with them all. Or... now that Jessy's friend Josie is here taking refuge from the snow too, maybe I will stay up here online. Hmmm.

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