Non-Explanation
“I could not explain the soul-sick feeling I got underground late at night, when there hadn’t been an R train for forty minutes and the platform was as crowded as if it were rush hour. I couldn’t explain how cut off I felt, sealed in a pneumatic tube of a commute that spit me out each morning on a gray sidewalk teeming with business suits, and spit me out again at night in peaceful, isolated, hopelessly square far Brooklyn. I couldn’t explain why I thought another year like the last would ruin me, maybe even ruin my marriage. I couldn’t explain it because there was no explanation, I guess.” Julie Powell, Julie and Julia
Julie Powell’s Mother constantly asked her why she was moving to Long Island City from Bay Ridge and why she was taking on the Julie/Julia Project (simultaneously). While there were some tactical reasons for the move and maybe some for the cook-through/blog, it’s clear that there were basic human emotions… gut feelings that played a part, however difficult they were to put into words.
So once again, I feel like I’m reading my own diary. I’ve been feeling this pressure for quite some time now, that I can’t really explain too well. In addition to getting back into the things I want to be doing with my spare time, I feel like I have to move away from here, or I’ll go crazy. As Adam has pointed out, the actual process of moving won’t be easy or fun, but I don’t mind that as much. I need for us to try something new and improved. (Note: we had an incident a few weeks back involving a big hole in our bathroom ceiling. It may have been the icing on the “I’m ready to move on” cake, which I can describe in detail some other time.)
So, Julie Powell couldn’t explain it and I can’t really explain it either. And maybe she’s right, there really isn’t an explanation. Maybe there doesn’t have to be one (though I can go on and on about a shorter commute, closets, and washer dryers, if you refuse to accept a non-explanation, which for the record I now prefer).
Maybe there are just some things we need to do. So, we do them?
And right now, I need to go to bed.




















