May 18, 2013

The day I moved to Door County. I wrote this in my car in the parking lot of Walmart. 

As I drive my car to the large corner house a tall boy in a white t-shirt glides slowly on a longboard. His hair is short and dark, his limbs are lean, like him, angular in all their unfamiliar ways. 

Josh Ritter is strumming softly through my speakers. I park my car and everything about this place asks me to move gently. 
i fumble with my phone. my things. i'm anxious. and excited. and nervous.
i finally move from my car
the boy turns and says 
"Hi, Are you Brittany?" I'm josh, welcome to sturgeon bay."

He is quiet. Like the driveway and the street behind it. No painful shyness. just calmness. easiness.
A tall man who says his name is Abe walks around the corner of the garage. Josh's brother. I recognize his face like I've known him years, but only because of his Facebook pictures. His hair is long and curly and pulled up halfway. He has a full red mustache, brown hair and eyes that are the brightest clear blue I've ever seen.

Later, I am tired. From the most perfect drive. From all these unfolding things.But the midday sun streams through my windows. dear prudence turns on my record player, crackling through its speakers. 
I walk to the kitchen
Outside a sander hums in the hands of Abe who scrapes away green paint from a large old boat. His dog lays sunning herself on the warm grass as her puppies tussle around her and without her. Curiosity bringing them to every corner of the yard.

I bite into an apple and hum the songs chorus and i can't help but think of how lovely this is. 

Later, a woman sits on a blanket surrounded by sleeping puppies and she pets each one with the hands of a mother. She is young, and will be one soon.

I walk outside to water my tiny garden
she says hello and i walk down the stairs
Her name is Kate and we talk as if we've known each other, ages and lifetimes before this. With a comfort I share with only a few of my closest friends but this is the longest amount of time we've ever shared words.

Everything is easy an over and over in my mind i say
I have never felt so myself before. never

And now as the weather cools outside my window, I feel exhausted and yet steadied by all of this familiar new. 

I've only been here 6 hours. 
and i didn't know home could happen so fast.