Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Oh, Happy Day
This morning my mom woke me up early, pulled back the covers a little and hugged me and asked me if I had a good night last night. I had been awake for 3 seconds so I couldn't remember what I did last night. "I think so", I said.
Mom: "Did you hear Sunny and I laughing this morning?"
Me: (sleepily) "No"
Mom: "Well, Daddy and I are getting married. At 10 am, so get up!" Then she laughed!
Me: "Really, REALLY? I am so happy, oh, GOD!"
My parents have been married and divorced to each other twice. They were first married in Korea when my mom was 19, and divorced about 7 years later. My mom saved up money for 6 months and then traveled for a year around Europe on her own. My dad had a brief marriage to another woman and had a son, who is my half-brother Clifford. They divorced and my parents found each other again and married for the second time, this time in a simple ceremony in a town office in New Jersey. Shortly afterwards, my mom was pregnant with my sister and they moved from NYC to Maine to start our family.
They got divorced when I was 13. We owned a log house that was the original house on our property, and had been renting it out until my parents got divorced. Our tenants left and we picked up the house and moved it 1/4 mile (the length of our driveway) up through the orchard and put it on our land across the road. So my mom, sister and I lived in the log house overlooking my dad's place below the orchard in the valley. Sunny went away to college and I eventually went to Camden when I was 15 for a year of high school before starting college at Simon's Rock. Their parting wasn't sudden, and because my parents didn't move miles away from each other, I didn't really experience the typical geographic separation that characterizes divorce.
While I was in Camden my parents reconnected and worked through a lot of stuff, so when I left for Simon's Rock my parents were living in the same house. Things got better and better since then, and now they are the happiest they've ever been. For my parents to get married again seems natural to me, though the idea only occurred to me this year.
This morning we went to Marty Crowe's office here in Belfast, and my parents sat in two big leather armchairs and my dad pulled out his old solid gold ring that he got in Korea in 1968. The gold was so soft that the ring wasn't circular anymore, but sort of triangular. Mom had her ring at home in a little box, so she brought that with her. When I had gotten up this morning I heard my mom yell, "Robert!" from the floor of the living room where she was doing stretches. "Where's your ring?" He forgot that it was in a safe deposit box at the bank so he got in the car and went into town to pick it up and the marriage license. I took pictures in Marty's office and my sister and I signed our names as witnesses on the official license. After we left Marty's office, my mom went to get a haircut and my dad hung out at the library reading magazines. Then they went to Rollie's drank Irish coffee and got their rings straightened at the jeweler's, and we all went out to lunch. When the house is finished this summer we're going to have a big party and a real civil ceremony.
Mom: "Did you hear Sunny and I laughing this morning?"
Me: (sleepily) "No"
Mom: "Well, Daddy and I are getting married. At 10 am, so get up!" Then she laughed!
Me: "Really, REALLY? I am so happy, oh, GOD!"
My parents have been married and divorced to each other twice. They were first married in Korea when my mom was 19, and divorced about 7 years later. My mom saved up money for 6 months and then traveled for a year around Europe on her own. My dad had a brief marriage to another woman and had a son, who is my half-brother Clifford. They divorced and my parents found each other again and married for the second time, this time in a simple ceremony in a town office in New Jersey. Shortly afterwards, my mom was pregnant with my sister and they moved from NYC to Maine to start our family.
They got divorced when I was 13. We owned a log house that was the original house on our property, and had been renting it out until my parents got divorced. Our tenants left and we picked up the house and moved it 1/4 mile (the length of our driveway) up through the orchard and put it on our land across the road. So my mom, sister and I lived in the log house overlooking my dad's place below the orchard in the valley. Sunny went away to college and I eventually went to Camden when I was 15 for a year of high school before starting college at Simon's Rock. Their parting wasn't sudden, and because my parents didn't move miles away from each other, I didn't really experience the typical geographic separation that characterizes divorce.
While I was in Camden my parents reconnected and worked through a lot of stuff, so when I left for Simon's Rock my parents were living in the same house. Things got better and better since then, and now they are the happiest they've ever been. For my parents to get married again seems natural to me, though the idea only occurred to me this year.
This morning we went to Marty Crowe's office here in Belfast, and my parents sat in two big leather armchairs and my dad pulled out his old solid gold ring that he got in Korea in 1968. The gold was so soft that the ring wasn't circular anymore, but sort of triangular. Mom had her ring at home in a little box, so she brought that with her. When I had gotten up this morning I heard my mom yell, "Robert!" from the floor of the living room where she was doing stretches. "Where's your ring?" He forgot that it was in a safe deposit box at the bank so he got in the car and went into town to pick it up and the marriage license. I took pictures in Marty's office and my sister and I signed our names as witnesses on the official license. After we left Marty's office, my mom went to get a haircut and my dad hung out at the library reading magazines. Then they went to Rollie's drank Irish coffee and got their rings straightened at the jeweler's, and we all went out to lunch. When the house is finished this summer we're going to have a big party and a real civil ceremony.
Hoppipolla
I went out to dinner tonight with Sarah and met up with Myranda at Gilbert's. My friends from Maine are wonderful, and even though I see them for what feels like a matter of minutes out of the year it's still something and it's still meaningful. Sarah and I went to a Chinese buffet that closed at 8 for some reason. They were vacuuming up around us and gave us our bill at, oh, 7:20. We were standing in the breezeway buying tattoos from the vending machine and a man came out with keys and stood next to the door, basically asking us to leave with his eyes. I said "Thanks!" and he smirked as we went out.
This morning my sister and I took the cars to the car wash because they were totally filthy and I couldn't even open the door without getting scum on my hand.
Another, better, family picture from Christmas Eve.
Car wash.
Sarah.
Me eating watermelon.
Myranda
This morning my sister and I took the cars to the car wash because they were totally filthy and I couldn't even open the door without getting scum on my hand.
Another, better, family picture from Christmas Eve.
Car wash.
Sarah.
Me eating watermelon.
Myranda
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Happy Holidays
Last night we went to an annual Christmas Eve party and Yankee Swap. My mom made nori rolls and teriyaki chicken and I spent most of the night drinking mulled cider.
A Christmas ornament I made when I was 6. 
Sunny and I dressed up for the party.
Me in 1st Grade.
Sunny in Kindergarten.
MaryE
llen
Party time.
Classic wrapping job, a la my dad.
Monday, December 17, 2007
NYC to Virginia
A few pictures from NYC and a couple from our first hours in Virgina (4am and so tired, but the trees were covered in ice that would melt in the morning).
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
welcome
My sister and I are leaving on Saturday to go to Virginia. We're working on the Crossroads dance project in the Shenandoah Valley with Shannon Hummel, a choreographer and the founder of the Coradance (www.coradance.com) dance company. The project brings creative writing and modern dance to high school students so they can share their perspectives on growing up in a changing rural community. The students translate their writing into movement and put on a performance about youth and place for the public.
Sunny is shadowing Shannon and taking notes to create a teaching manual so the Crossroads project can be done in other communities by their own community members. My job is to make a film documentary of this whole thing. I'll be making two films: The first is a promotional-type piece that will be included in brochures and funding packages. The second is a longer documentary for the teaching manual.
I've never taken a film class or made a real film before, but somehow, I'm getting paid and relying on my Photography degree (I knew that was worth something!) to carry me through. Wish me luck!
In these early stages of this blog I'll write about this project and post pictures daily (hopefully). After we get back from Virginia I'll post updates on this project and other things going on here in Maine: my dad's timber frame house project, my photography show in Portland, and anything I photograph in the day-to-day. A few days ago, the deer walked a heart into our front lawn:
Sunny is shadowing Shannon and taking notes to create a teaching manual so the Crossroads project can be done in other communities by their own community members. My job is to make a film documentary of this whole thing. I'll be making two films: The first is a promotional-type piece that will be included in brochures and funding packages. The second is a longer documentary for the teaching manual.
I've never taken a film class or made a real film before, but somehow, I'm getting paid and relying on my Photography degree (I knew that was worth something!) to carry me through. Wish me luck!
In these early stages of this blog I'll write about this project and post pictures daily (hopefully). After we get back from Virginia I'll post updates on this project and other things going on here in Maine: my dad's timber frame house project, my photography show in Portland, and anything I photograph in the day-to-day. A few days ago, the deer walked a heart into our front lawn:
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