finding yer bliss
Awhile back we had a couple move in down at the old schoolhouse when the glass artist who lived there threw in the towel on making a living on the South End and moved her kilns to Portland where she did quite well, thank you. The new couple were all starry-eyed over the quaintness of the schoolhouse and its adjoining studio. I certainly know the feeling. For me, it went away about next day when I could see my shack in the light of day. For the new kids it took a little longer. The Volunteer Fire Department’s sirens hurried things along, a 200 decibel scream all hours of the day or night to summon the crew from over a mile or two away. Later they got beepers, but too late for these neighbors.
A year or so went by and one day they were gone. No goodbyes, no adioses. Some folks are like that. Pack up the conestoga in the middle of the night and don’t look back. Oddly enough I ran into them up on Orcas. The little store called itself The Old Schoolhouse Tea Shoppe and I just knew it had to be them. Sure enough, it was. After some initial embarrassment, they opined that Camano just wasn’t ‘spiritual’ enough. Um, no offense….
Now, I’ve never claimed it was and as far as the South End is concerned, ‘spiritual’ never really pops into mind for me. So okay, no offense taken…. Orcas now, it’s sure got a lot of siritualness, boatloads of tourists, ex-hippies living on trust funds, expatriate writers and nearly as many artists as we got. It drips spiritual, any fool could see that. I wished them luck on their new Nirvana and skulked forlornly back home to my hellhole.
About a year later they were back! Tails between their legs, store gone broke, opportunities a wee scarce in Eden. I asked what they’d do now. Try the store here? Take up watercolors? Become spiritual advisers? No, they said, they bought a place south of me and were going to subdivide it to pay for the house they would build on the lot they kept. So yeah, they were going to get their real estate license and they were going to sell properties.
I didn’t ask what you’re asking, what I wanted to ask: where is the spirituality in parceling us up and selling us off??? Because I’m a South Ender, you see, and my idea of most folks’ religion is that it pretty much ends at their wallets. Do unto others what you can get away with. I suspect they found a hybrid form of spirituality here finally. I know this: they’re doing real well selling real estate. Allah be praised. Even if Gaia cries a little tear.
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