Sunday, March 06, 2011

Eight by Ten: A Story of What is Possible

We finished. We moved into our swank/AARP white brick apartment L-shaped alcove box on December 23 and now all of our stuff is here. It is basically done. Art hung. New furniture sat upon. Screeners witnessed on the new flatter. Easy twenty-first century living. Lucky us.

This is the great news, in addition. After all is put away and put into service, there is an 8 X 10 foot space down by the windows that is empty. Completely empty.

We have everything we need and we have an 8 X 10 empty space. This is unheard of in Manhattan if you are not Carnegie-esque.

What does this mean? It means everything is possible. It means a dining room during dinner parties. It means a dance floor. It means move the table into it so the area by the kitchen can become the guest room. It means multi-purpose room. It means musical rehearsals (the piano is right there next to it). It means caucuses, floor shows, spontaneous expressionistic/anachronistic appreciations. It means God might show up.

You have to have an open space. Leave room open. New and surprising things love to show up if you leave the space for them to arrive.

And right next to it is the shelf-garden. Open space next to paradise.

Open to anything.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could even have a wake. I've always thought it would be fun to have a wake even tho' nobody has died. Drink, get maudlin, it's better than a cleanse!

Mother/Judith

40licious said...

Pictures please!

Todd HellsKitchen said...

Would you like to store a pile of trunks for me??? About 8 feet high? Would make a great bookshelf... Or plant stand...Please?!?!

* said...

SEE?
Open spaces make people creative. (And in one case, the 40-liscious one, Desirous)

Tandava (Carol Henning) said...

When I moved into my Brooklyn co-op in 2002 I deliberately put all the furniture against the walls, leaving an L-shaped space of over 70 square feet.

And in that space, I have learned to bellydance.

In the past several years I have traveled to Cairo, San Fransicso and Japan to bellydance. This year it will be Taiwan, Orlando and possibly Germany.

If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be travelling the world as a professional bellydancer I would have asked you what drugs you were taking.

And then I would have asked you to share them.

* said...

Carol,
You are wonderful. This is zackly what I'm talkin bout. Gorgeous.