Keep, Gift, Donate, Trash
Whew.
It has been a very busy week. Our days have been full with the task of moving out of Chester's apartment up at Forest Lane. Jaime has been hard at work preparing the house for sale, which includes painting all the walls. The house must be ready for open houses starting April 1 so we are digging into the enormous task of emptying it out. For the past five days, I've been making trips up to Forest Lane and moving boxes and furniture up to the garage, emptying out drawers and closets. Discovering huge amounts of Chester's belongings in every nook in the apartment. We haven't yet touched the massage studio. Monday and Tuesday, Chester and I will be going up together and once the apartment is empty we will then begin closing up the massage space.
The whole project is an incredible dive into Chester's life. Piles of witty and froggy t-shirts. Huge stacks of books, from bodywork guides to sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks. Boxes of cards, all signed by dozens of grateful students at the end of classes. Crystals and rocks, bones and feathers. Toys and Treasures, Critters and Dieties. Every box I open has Chester all over it- even the most seemingly mundane objects are charged and curious resonances abound. And with every object we come across, Chester must ask the question; keep, gift away, donate, or trash? Our space here at the Bakery Loft is limited- I am busy trying to work storage magic and maximize the space we do have. Chester's abilities and activities have also changed, making some very personal belongings not so practical to hold onto. So we are taking it one box at a time, and will be in the process of sorting belongings for many weeks to come, I reckon. Already Chester has gifted away many items: Big mirrors and a few bookshelves are now at Joseph Kramer's office/classroom, where they will be put to work in service to continuing the teaching. Books are starting to find their way into friend's hands. And Chester is beginning to put into practice the "Living Bequest"- passing on some of his most personal and sacred belongings. This process will unfold into the coming months, and I am very grateful that he can make conscious choices about these gifts.
With all of the moving, Chester has been spending a fair amount of time alone. While I drive up to Forest Lane and pack and haul boxes, he has been spending time here at the loft. I set up a "sorting station" for him and he spends several hours sifting through his boxes. Today he spent over five hours alone while I went to the city to get my ear lobes pierced. These stretches of time alone are a good indication of his level of independance, and I feel mostly comfortable with trusting his safety and well-being while alone. There is comfort in having friends in the building and neighborhood who could be called if Chester needed assistance.
On Friday Chester finished his third intensive does of chemotherapy. Again, fatigue was the biggest side-effect of the drugs, and Chester was pretty sleepy all week, with short periods of fiestiness and wicked humor mixed in to keep us all on our toes. But this weekend he rallied back and was quite productive and active, sorting through boxes and helping me rearrange the apartment to accomodate the new additions to the home. It feels good to have more of his belongings here living with us. Dragonflies in the bathroom, tapestries on the walls, big crystals grounding us, making it home.
It has been a very busy week. Our days have been full with the task of moving out of Chester's apartment up at Forest Lane. Jaime has been hard at work preparing the house for sale, which includes painting all the walls. The house must be ready for open houses starting April 1 so we are digging into the enormous task of emptying it out. For the past five days, I've been making trips up to Forest Lane and moving boxes and furniture up to the garage, emptying out drawers and closets. Discovering huge amounts of Chester's belongings in every nook in the apartment. We haven't yet touched the massage studio. Monday and Tuesday, Chester and I will be going up together and once the apartment is empty we will then begin closing up the massage space.
The whole project is an incredible dive into Chester's life. Piles of witty and froggy t-shirts. Huge stacks of books, from bodywork guides to sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks. Boxes of cards, all signed by dozens of grateful students at the end of classes. Crystals and rocks, bones and feathers. Toys and Treasures, Critters and Dieties. Every box I open has Chester all over it- even the most seemingly mundane objects are charged and curious resonances abound. And with every object we come across, Chester must ask the question; keep, gift away, donate, or trash? Our space here at the Bakery Loft is limited- I am busy trying to work storage magic and maximize the space we do have. Chester's abilities and activities have also changed, making some very personal belongings not so practical to hold onto. So we are taking it one box at a time, and will be in the process of sorting belongings for many weeks to come, I reckon. Already Chester has gifted away many items: Big mirrors and a few bookshelves are now at Joseph Kramer's office/classroom, where they will be put to work in service to continuing the teaching. Books are starting to find their way into friend's hands. And Chester is beginning to put into practice the "Living Bequest"- passing on some of his most personal and sacred belongings. This process will unfold into the coming months, and I am very grateful that he can make conscious choices about these gifts.
With all of the moving, Chester has been spending a fair amount of time alone. While I drive up to Forest Lane and pack and haul boxes, he has been spending time here at the loft. I set up a "sorting station" for him and he spends several hours sifting through his boxes. Today he spent over five hours alone while I went to the city to get my ear lobes pierced. These stretches of time alone are a good indication of his level of independance, and I feel mostly comfortable with trusting his safety and well-being while alone. There is comfort in having friends in the building and neighborhood who could be called if Chester needed assistance.
On Friday Chester finished his third intensive does of chemotherapy. Again, fatigue was the biggest side-effect of the drugs, and Chester was pretty sleepy all week, with short periods of fiestiness and wicked humor mixed in to keep us all on our toes. But this weekend he rallied back and was quite productive and active, sorting through boxes and helping me rearrange the apartment to accomodate the new additions to the home. It feels good to have more of his belongings here living with us. Dragonflies in the bathroom, tapestries on the walls, big crystals grounding us, making it home.
posted by Chrys Curtis-Fawley at 9:30 PM
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