comfort
So sleepy.
I was out of the house for 14 hours straight yesterday - organising librarians, speaking in public to librarians, running around - having escaped librarians, killing time, buying books, eating tacos, walking places, climbing stairs, carrying books, walking places. This was normal for me when I lived so far away from everything, but seems strange now that home is so nearby.
I had a nice, lazy sleep-in this morning - drifting in and out. I haven't been able to sleep in in weeks. It was great. Leaving my place for work, I had a quick look around and realised that I really like it - it is starting to feel like me. I am starting to work on the place or it is starting to work on me, and is starting to feel like home.
Walking to work this morning, there was a young woman on an empty street in Auburn, wearing a long navy hijab. She was carying a baby, with two little girls flanking her. She seemed really strong and capable, and just screamed solid maternal reliability. It stirred something strange in me - that people are so responsible, at such a young age - that they have their entire lives mapped out for them. There is this picture book that we have in the library called The Swirling Hijab which describes all the things that the hijab could represent to a child - it is more a book about cultural identity than propaganda about the value of wearing a hijab, but I can see how some people could be unsettled by it. When I saw this woman with her swirling hijab, I immediately thought of that book, and the billowing fabric made me think of haven, sanctuary, safety, maternal comfort.
Tonight, I am going to be all alone in the house I lived in for five years, for the last time, doing the last of the packing up. I have to give up a couple of pieces of furniture that I really love, because I don't have room for them. I have to put a lot of memories to bed. Good as well as bad.
I miss my cat.
I was out of the house for 14 hours straight yesterday - organising librarians, speaking in public to librarians, running around - having escaped librarians, killing time, buying books, eating tacos, walking places, climbing stairs, carrying books, walking places. This was normal for me when I lived so far away from everything, but seems strange now that home is so nearby.
I had a nice, lazy sleep-in this morning - drifting in and out. I haven't been able to sleep in in weeks. It was great. Leaving my place for work, I had a quick look around and realised that I really like it - it is starting to feel like me. I am starting to work on the place or it is starting to work on me, and is starting to feel like home.
Walking to work this morning, there was a young woman on an empty street in Auburn, wearing a long navy hijab. She was carying a baby, with two little girls flanking her. She seemed really strong and capable, and just screamed solid maternal reliability. It stirred something strange in me - that people are so responsible, at such a young age - that they have their entire lives mapped out for them. There is this picture book that we have in the library called The Swirling Hijab which describes all the things that the hijab could represent to a child - it is more a book about cultural identity than propaganda about the value of wearing a hijab, but I can see how some people could be unsettled by it. When I saw this woman with her swirling hijab, I immediately thought of that book, and the billowing fabric made me think of haven, sanctuary, safety, maternal comfort.
Tonight, I am going to be all alone in the house I lived in for five years, for the last time, doing the last of the packing up. I have to give up a couple of pieces of furniture that I really love, because I don't have room for them. I have to put a lot of memories to bed. Good as well as bad.
I miss my cat.