I am often asked about my home, Tuesday. Often the questions are about the obvious and ongoing construction, my bits of garden, hauling water, too little or too much sunlight, and Alaska's remoteness. The nature of the questions varies a bit with the experiences of those asking. Why did I name my house? Why Tuesday? (We will save those for a different blog post.) On the whole, most people are really asking me about
finding my way, carving out an existence
, composing a life. This post is not the whole answer, but it may be the most relevant.
Life at Tuesday:
Light in the summer, glowing with warmth in the winter, music, the quiet turning of pages, laughter, and conversation are the foundation of our home. I wear blue jeans, and sarongs, and I walk barefoot when it suits me, most of the summer it suits me.
In this life I am learning, not nearly fast enough to be ahead, but almost fast enough to keep up. I plant, I explore history, I spend time in thought, I paint, I read, I write: I dabble. Tuesday is an honest reflection of the lives it shelters. A place where function and form occasionally meet, but for the most part whimsy overlaps utility to create pockets of comfort, and now and again, art.
People come from all over to spend time here. I think because
here is a place that offers enough. Frequently, we find there is enough conversation, enough peace, enough to eat, enough quiet, enough candor, and enough joy, to support us on our journeys. The door is open, both to leaving and returning.
Enough is that place between too little and too much. It is easy to fall short of what is needed. We can see that truth in every community despite the plenty that surrounds so many. A fear of scarcity, felt by those who have what they need as well as those who do not, creates a hunger that more cannot satisfy - such that life's real challenge is walking the line between too little and excess.
I am like you, there are days I worry, trying to manage the tension that comes with not knowing if there will be enough.
Enough time for me to raise my daughters as individuals and sisters? Enough time for me to be alone with my husband, and enough time for me to be alone with myself? Enough time to be home and enough time to explore? My daughters know the comfort of home, but will there be enough to ensure they develop the ability to trust and delight in places unfamiliar? Can I develop enough poise to navigate day-to-day challenges and leave room to experience the sacredness in each day? Will I recognize enough?
I don’t know? I am not sure that it matters.
For now, I walk through this life with you, creating, allowing for, and discovering enough. Enough to give, enough to ensure well-being, enough to help others, enough to celebrate, enough to make each of us whole.
Welcome to Tuesday, make yourself at home.
