Tuesday, September 6, 2005 Coping posted at 8:57 AM I had the best dream last night. We went back into the apartment to see if we could salvage anything, and it turned out that all our stuff was fine. The fire had just eaten the apartment around it, leaving rafters overhead that looked like a beautiful arbor. Vines had grown up all around everything (kudzu probably, but it was pretty), and somehow a river had sprung up and was running through the apartment. I was busy taking pictures of everything when my alarm went off. People keep saying that I'm dealing with it really well, that I have a good attitude, that I'm in good spirits, etc. I think I'm pretty cheerful when I'm not thinking about it, but some days I'm very strongly reminded that I don't have a home, I don't have my own space, I don't have my own things, and I'm not in control of anything, and that feeling overwhelms me. Comments Interestingly enough, over dinner last night I was discussing this misfortune of the fire with some of my fellow residents last night and one of them said that she had lost most of her possessions in an apartment fire when she was an undergraduate, including her keepsakes from a year spent in western Africa. To deal with that loss, she started journaling and scrapbooking about the fire itself and her memories of the things she lost. She showed me one of the books she's done, and they're masterfully and meticulously detailed descriptions of that period of her life. She said that, in the long run, the loss was made more tolerable by knowing that all the memories and memories of things were all contextualized now. She felt like her descendents would have a better understanding of her and the importance of her travels to making her who she was. She commented that it was a true collection now that could never be broken up. By  John Duns Scotus at Tuesday, September 06, 2005 1:06:00 PM   I don't know how you're doing it, other than the cliched "one day at a time". Isn't it amazing how someone can be ready to rip apart inside, but from the outside people think everything is cool? Writing is a good way for some to cope. My boyfriend wrestles & releases his tension in the ring. Music is one of my therapies. Shannon By  Shannon at Tuesday, September 06, 2005 2:39:00 PM   Post a Comment

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