Just Stay Home

June 4th, 2007

With the summer has come a renewed sense of permanence. This will be our third year in north Idaho. The third time I have planted a garden and watched it grow in this climate. The third summer we've experienced in the northern woods.

I've noticed that I go through three stages when I come to a new place:

1. Discovery. Everything's new and exciting. This is the stage of exploration.
2. Familiarity. Things are familiar, and sometimes a little boring. I get restless.
3. Permanence. I start to feel a rhythm develop. Things are familiar, but in a comforting way.

I know I've reached the third stage, permanence, when I spend more time calling up good memories of the past than in seeking novelty. When I go on a bike ride, instead of thinking "I'd like to find a new place to ride", I think, "remember that great ride two summers ago? I want to go there." I'm just starting to feel that way now.

The topic of permanence has really captured my attention this year (see my previous post). Tonight I read an interesting essay by Meg Holden entitled "Never to Speed Up Again". She discusses her transition from frenetic urbanite to isolated islander. It's worth the read if you have a few quiet minutes to think about her words. One of the most interesting statements in her essay is a quote from Terry Tempest Williams: "It just may be that the most radical act we can commit is to stay home." By establishing a sense of place, we gradually overcome our "fear of home" and do what almost everyone is afraid of doing: just stay home.