Creature Comforts

We established that, in the face of bigots, we can pull up our roots within a few days, leave behind everything but the essentials, gather our family in our cars, depart for a new, safe home, and set up our lives anew. We are not far from our ancestors in our ability to flee for safety, for family, for justice.

Tiberius, relaxing on a Saturday night.

Yet when we arrive, we lack the mettle of our foremothers. Yes, we make do with much and little. No cast iron pans so every culinary foray that involves scrambled eggs results in lots of pan scrubbing (the dishwasher is really simply a sanitizer, it no longer cleans as it did when I was a child), and we have adapted to the fact that the bathroom upstairs lacks the flush-umph for anything save number one. The beloved marvels at the local butcher who she says is better than anyplace in “the old country,” and we have rediscovered the magic of layered socks to keep our feet warm. On one hand, when we are all together and we have good food, there is little else that we need. On the other hand, after almost six week, we decided that we could not sleep any longer in the full size bed. A king was in order. And the beloved could no longer sit in the broken upholstered rocking chair.

On Wednesday afternoon, we went out to lunch at the very cute (and gay-friendly) Savoy Bar and Grill. Then spent an hour at the Saginaw Art Museum, with a great Ansel Adams exhibit. Finally, an afternoon trip to the local Art Van yielded an inexpensive King mattress set and a new comfy chair. They were delivered this morning. We take comfort in our ability to flee and in our ability to make home wherever we are. We also are looking forward to a great night’s sleep.