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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Deep Thoughts, by Crash Dummy

Look at this house!

This house was built in 1903 by my great great grandparents.

We call it the Mt. Carmel house.


This is the Mt. Carmel house today--107 years later:

It's almost exactly the same. How wild is that?

Original doors and windows. Original picket fence (behind the shrubbery). It even has the original linoleum floor in the parlor.


My great great grandmother Tait's flour bin still sits in the kitchen.

Walking into this house is like walking into a DeLorean car and going back to the future.

Or is it back to the past? It's so hard to tell on the road of life.

(Can I just wax philosophical for a sec?)

The road of life is funny like that. (So is the road of Kanosh, btw.) You have to look forward to find your way, but at the same time you have to look backward to make sure you don't get run over by a Mack truck.

You get me?


They say life is like a box of chocolates . . . (If that's true I hope they're Dove Chocolates because I like the little bits of wisdom written inside each wrapper. I just ate a Dove chocolate today which said "Remember, mistakes make life interesting." The next one said, "If nobody's perfect, then you're nobody." The next one said, "Be extraordinary in the ordinary things of life."


Susan from New Holland said that.


See that's what I like about Dove. Dove gives credit where credit is due. Most chocolate companies don't take the time to cite their sources.)


Anyways!!!!! 


I don't think life is like a box of chocolates at all. Life is more predictable than that. With life you always know what you're gonna get.  You're gonna get old. And you're gonna get tired. And you're probably gonna get itchy. With a b. 

 I think life is more like a filmstrip.


This filmstrip in particular.


This filmstrip illustrates the need to look forward and the need to look backward at the same time.  To make sure you don't get side swiped when changing lanes.


I didn't need to worry about getting side swiped on the road to Kanosh because noone else travels to Kanosh but me. 



(Does anyone else feel the sudden urge to buckle up?) 


Point o' this photo object lesson is this: You gots ta keep things in perspective because you're not the only one traveling the road of life. You gots ta keep what's ahead of you and what's behind you in balance.  

You hear?

And always keep in mind that things are often distorted when you look back.  




The details get all blurred and you have to add stuff to sharpen it up. 


After I read my grandma's family history book I was so charmed that I told her she should write romance novels. She shook her head and said, "Oh, no darling. I only like to write the truth." 


Is she implying that Edward wouldn't give Bella the time of day in real life?  


No, she's simply saying that she values truth. 


Pretty truth.  






But what was I talking about again? 



Oh, yeah. The Mt. Carmel house.  So on the way to the Mt. Carmel house I stopped at the side of the road to pick some flowers for my dad's grave.


My dad is buried in the Mt. Carmel cemetery with the rest of the deceased family. 

I sat at his grave for a while. 


Some people talk to gravestones, but I don't. Some people have profound experiences in graveyards, but I don't. I didn't feel much so I got up and wandered around and looked at the headstones of all of my relatives back and back and back--trying to feel connected, you know.  

And then I saw this headstone, and I felt connected.


These are my peoples. The peoples who know where to go. And aren't afraid to tell you how to get there.  (hee hee hee)


"It's all uphill from here," they're saying. 



In the snow, both ways. 



Ba dum bum.  


(Can I show and tell the rest later? I need some beauty sleep.) 





P.S. My ex-door neighbor Martha called me yesterday! Squeeeeeel! MAHALO, Martha. I miss you so dang much. Even though you tried to steal my hub. 


J/K, peeps--she just borrowed him. She always brought him back when she was done. 


20 comments:

LBBlum said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOo WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
I am NEVER EVER EVER FIRST!

LBBlum said...

ha ha and second

LBBlum said...

heehehheheheh everyone is asleep-- I'm bringing out the blog TP and officially
tossing it in your comment box

LBBlum said...

how obnoxious can I be?
you know all too well.. being my neighbor for years..

I am LoW said...

You are the wisest dummy ever.

Momza said...

Dear Crash,
Has it occurred to you that because of YOU, your children will not have to travel to Mt. Carmel with a trunk full of questions and leave with no answers? That your efforts to bring clarity to a distorted past will also bring peace for future generations?
Family secrets are great when it's a recipe for chicken salad, but they're painful when they're about relationships.
I appreciate your journey.

Unknown said...

Is it crazy that I like the linoleum floor? I may not know how to spell it but I do like it...You could spill anything on that and never find it! (I jest, it does look cool though.)

I love the house. Cute and cottagey. Looking back is always interesting and eye-opening....

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Ha ha Swirl! You stinker, you. I haven't been tp'd forever. It feels kinda nice. ;)

Momza, MAHALO! That was so sweet. And thank you for your insight. I never thought of that. You are a wise dummy too.

Andrea, I like the floor now. My aunts want to rip it out but my grandma says no way.

TisforTonya said...

I had to do a double take on the headstone finger... making sure it was pointing at heaven instead of flipping the bird... maybe I'm a little tired?

and you have permission to wax philosophical whenever the mood strikes :) (pff, like you need permission, this is the blogosphere where anything goes!)

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Hee hee T, I know. Me too. That's why I liked it so much. Can you just picture me LOLing in the graveyard. I'm so irreverent like that.

Heidi said...

A lovely and brilliant analogy. A thought-provoking post. A beautiful house--love it!

Serene is my name, not my life! said...

Oh, I love it! All of it!

But especially your Silver Honda Pilot.

Because I have one two.

We were destined to be friends, I can tell.

Barbaloot said...

That house is amazing! Minus the linoleum. That's just awful.

But I like what you said---with the whole past and future things being in balance. There is some unnecessarily dramatic drama going on in my family right now and I just want to say to people, "Do you realize who you're talking to? Your family that you've loved and known your whole life? And who you can't escape from? Do you want them to have the memory of how you're treating them forever?" Maybe instead, I'll just tell them to balance the past and future. That sounds easier.

Sandi said...

Cute house! Cute headstone! Cute post! And it's good to know that getting itchy with a b is normal as you age because that's what I've been lately.
I say pull up that linoleum and see if there is wood under there!

Martha said...

I've been ichy too---oh that's because I had to put up insulation yesterday and got fiberglass all over.

Quit saying I tried to steal your hub! (Although I could so use his help with tennis right now.) We have 30 kids on our teams. 30!!! Last night I was late to our practice (Rach had a vball game) and poor Kevin was trying to deal with all these kids. Jimmy and all his buddies were just wacking balls at each other. So today I emailed the parents and said they had to help or else. I guess or else we'll start charging them to get paid for our free babysitting.

You are so lucky you have grandparents to go and visit. Mine were gone before I got to Jr. High. My mom has recently reconnected with her nieces and nephews so that's good. I guess that would be my cousins, but they are in their 60's so I don't know them at all.

Oh, sad note, Uncle Tommy Kamae passed away this morning. That's the ukulele aunty Thelma's hub. He just had his 70's bday on Monday and they had a huge party for him. Nice that he had a big bash as one of his last days.

Homer and Queen said...

I LOVE that house! And the flour bin. And the headstone flipping the bird at me!!! Great flowers for dad. XOXO

Kazzy said...

What a great post and a thoughtful writer. I get these periods where I feel extremely connected to my ancestors, and then, shamefully, I forget and move on.

Braden Bell said...

So glad that Martha brought your husband back.

Mariko said...

Love those pictures of the flowers and the graves.
I think it's Bella that wouldn't give Edward the time of day in real life. Partly because he's a VAMPIRE and partly because she's reedonculouse.

I just read an essay about grieving and gumbo. You would like it.

Me (aka Danielle) said...

How wonderful that Mt. Carmel has been preserved so beautifully. You don't see much of that anymore. People are too caught up in the wave of bigger, better and high tech. What they don't always realize is that they are regressing.