A Room of One's Own

What would you do if you were given one room in your house that was entirely yours? Not having to please anyone but yourself, not having to share it with anyone, what would you put inside of it?

I have just such a room. It is small in comparison with the other bedrooms, that is why no one else wants it. It use to belong to my son, but he outgrew it and we now have him downstairs in a much larger space. My husband has his eye on my daughter's soon-to-be old bedroom for an office. So, this one is just for me.

I have furnished it with a walnut-finished desk, equipped with shelves and a few nooks and crannies. I have polished it with my favorite wood polish and have placed upon all it's flat surfaces lovely lace and embroidery work that I have recently inherited. Upon these soft linens are shiny pastel pots, some ribbon be-decked, for my pens, pencils and markers. There are baskets for paperwork, odds & ends.

But this space really became mine when I put out for display pictures from my childhood, black & white photos of my sister and myself. I am displaying only the really young ones when I was most truly myself, from babyhood through about 3rd Grade. This is when the soul of me and my outside expression was exactly the same, before situations and people tried to change me and take me away from who I really was. I look in the eyes of my childhood self and I hear thoughts of poetry, fairies, classical music and God. This is the self I emulate today.

This room is for my creative self, the one who still, after all these many, many years, can forget all about being a middle-aged woman and yet know childish glee. Sometimes, on soft, summer nights, I can still almost hear the tinkling laughter of fairy voices in undisturbed, green places, like when I was a child. I can imagine wonderful things. My heart b.e.l.i.e.v.e.s. I feel the wonder of God like I did way back when I was practically a baby, when my heart longed for someone greater than myself and had unquestioning faith that somehow I was heard. That same girl longed mightily for everything that is beautiful in the world and she still exists, although hidden these many years.

Beauty is Truth, Truth is Beauty - that is all
ye know on earth and all ye need to know.
- Keats

Amusing, that one semi-empty room can set one's heart to flutter and inspire one to extrapolate.
I have also furnished this room with my mother's old rocker. It's creaky, but I love it. And a record player - yes, really! I have gathered together all my old records of classical music that I have saved over the years and here in this room I will play them while I work. There will be no moaning and sighing over my choices of old vs. new. I can just enjoy!


What will I do in this room? I will write, create, scrapbook and just BE...Hopefully, to the strains of Gershwin or Chopin and (definitely) Rachmaninoff.



I know that this is a luxury and it couldn't come at a better time.



I will eventually show you pictures, but my camera is still on the blink. So, just imagine a crazy, peaceful, aging women rocking away to beautiful piano music, surrounded by some things she loves. Imagine bliss!

Love,

Elizabeth