The Battlefield Where the Girls Say I Love You



That's just the thing: we will never tell you we love you. In fact, we're here only to hold hands across state lines and yell at the world. We're here to try to touch you across this chasm of flown things. Not even that. At most, I will teach you how to make a gin smoothie when there's nothing left in the house. Hannah can teach you several languages and what to do when your car breaks up with you. Thanks for coming out.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

phantom limbs, the word "frigate," what have you...

okay, short story longer: hannah and i moved in together for a month this summer. we were to teach high schoolers creative writing. we had thought that, during this time, we would complete our books (as in, hannah would finish hers and i would burn mine so that i could start over). instead we ate cheese plates and drank wine and listened to sad indie music on my back porch. for a month. ("where do you go when you're lonely; i'll follow you." christ, ryan adams.) i have no reason to lie to you. but during that time, we talked and argued and laughed incessantly...we learned from each other in that collaborative way you learn by complete accident. so now the joke is that she's my phantom limb. i go out back each night half hoping she'll be there.
here's the deal. i have no shame. it's as adorable as it is awful. i mispronounce "goethe" and "frigate" in front of schools of people. i don't spell check. i move constantly. i have three jobs and try to run 4 miles a day. it's awful, clearly. i go to target to get blank cd's and return with a jump rope. hannah is much smarter than myself. she is meditative. she reads divisadero and wants to talk about it, while i have nothing but usweekly's stashed in the outback. oh and finally: we have no idea what we're doing. so there's that. we don't plan to know what we're doing in the future either. thanks again. for everything.

2 comments:

sallylynn said...

top ten comments for this first blog:

1. i hate the word blog, but i love you both.

2. i am searching your posts for scrabble words.

3. the title describes my life perfectly, and i'm going to use it as often as i can in conversation.

4. i also got to live with hannah for a month, though half that month she was living with mamie. mamie and i fight over who gets to be hannah's friend. in a nice way.

5. why did i commit to ten statements here? i can't commit to the bottle of wine i chose yesterday.

6. i, too, go out to my concrete stoop, pretend it's a back deck, and wish for mamie and hannah.

7. mamie likes scotch (dewar's), hannah likes sea breezes, and i like bourbon. it's a good mix, but not if you mix the liquors. we all like other drinks, too, lest you judge.

8. someday, when technology doth not thwart us, i shall post on this very blog.

9. i miss living in the south. oh, the biscuits. oh, the hannah and the mamie. (yes, they all deserve a "the," and as an english teacher, i oughta remember what those are called, but all i can remember right now is "appositive," and that ain't it.)

10. did i mention that i love the title?

hannah said...

i can't believe you just said 'sea breeze' on here; you know how it upsets mames.

sal, you are a part of this. the spoonful of sugar to help this all go down.