Katharsis

I'm a far cry from sleep tonight but Sequoia is out like a light. He drove to the Bay Area and back in 24 hours; brutal. This was his final visit to his family home; the sale closes on September 3. 57 years the Pearson lived in that house; boggles my mind. For me, growing up in California was defined by transience; everybody moved, then moved again. Up, down or sideways, it almost didn't matter which direction you were heading as long as you kept moving. I grew up in a culture that valued mobility, freedom, the right walk away whenever you chose. How do you think all those white people made it that far west? We come from a long line of leavers.

The Pearsons took a different approach: they dug in and started acquiring. Sequoia himself has been indulging his badly suppressed hoarding tendencies. I guess that's how he deals with the stress. The amount of stuff he keeps bringing back with him! Some of it is precious, like his grandmother's steamer trunk, but most of it is trash. Ah well, it must bring him some kind of comfort. Clutter makes me a little crazy, but I'm holding my peace for now. If there are still boxes of crap stacked about the house in a month's time, well...

I spent a couple of hours visiting Ken this evening while Sequoia made the epic round trip.. Aristotle tells us that tragedy arouses pity and fear leading to katharsis. Ken takes me to the place of pity and fear, but I'm a far cry from catharsis yet. Maybe that's why I can't sleep.