I Can Imagine Living Here

My granddaughter, Katie, has started a new job with the Irvine Company. It’s on the same street we live on, about a 15 minute drive. Her office is in charge of rentals in a new apartment development which is, as the Irvine projects always are, beautiful and well-planned. I found myself thinking, I could imagine living here. But remembering how hard it was to find housing during the war, I could imagine living happily in nearly any place I could find decent housing. Even a Quonset hut. (Don’t know what that is? Google it up.) I’ve lived in Quonset huts three or four times so I don’t need to imagine them. I remember them.

As the idea came to me a few minutes ago to write a blog with the title I’ve given it, I thought of a fun way to change the title by cutting off the last words so I can say,

I Can Imagine Living Here 

I Can Imagine Living

I Can Imagine

I Can

I

First, readers of my blog know how passionate I am about the subject of Home. The closest I’ve ever come to homelessness has been when I had to find a place to live near each new flight station where my Marine Corps pilot husband was assigned. Had that over a period of 23 years. He had joined the service at just the time the service was not able to provide housing anymore for all its personnel, (WWII). At times I was more than happy to live in a Quonset hut. A place to call Home is precious indeed and we needed a roof over our heads. We were glad to call our Quonset hut home. By the way, have you ever heard rain falling on a tin roof? 

One of my favorite pastimes when visiting a new town is to seek out the residential areas and drive around them slowly feasting my eyes on the houses. I don’t mean the richer neighborhoods. I mean the homey ones, the kinds of places where children can play in the streets or on sidewalks, the houses that have front porches and back yards and flowers. I find myself saying over and over, “I can imagine myself living here.”

Still, though it is upscale, Katie’s apartment complex is inviting too. It is beautifully planned and landscaped with just a hint of old-worldliness. And, I suppose I wouldn’t turn down a large estate if the house felt homey. Or any other place I could make feel homey.

Having said that, I can imagine living. Don’t have to imagine that either because I’ve been living for at least 87+ years. I can imagine living before this too and afterward as well, though pre-existence and afterlife are not easy to imagine because I’m not good with the unfamiliar.

I can imagine. As I said, I can imagine best what I’ve experienced, or something similar. It seems that my life has given me so many wonderful things that I feel full and satisfied. Still, a trip to the moon, or Mars, or better, some more habitable place in space? It would be fun, however I’d rather wait and see it in 3-D movies. Maybe.

I can. These are two of the most precious words put together I can imagine. I can. I may not choose to, but I can. Like “I can walk to the Regional Park, but I don’t care to right now, thank you.” Or, “I can sing, but not now. I need an audience of children young and uncritical enough to be entertained by that.” To me the words “I can” mean I can do the things I need to do and like to do with ease and grace and gratitude. 

Lastly, the word I. 

I is closely associated with the word am. This is nice to know: I am an individual human being for the time being, but when I get to the calculus of life I'll recognize my real and immortal being, the perfect I that awaits my worthiness to claim it. 

My teacher, Dr. Merriman, used to say, “You, sitting in that chair, tell me that you are, but you, sitting in that chair, don’t tell me what you are. He meant that none of us are fully aware of our eternal identity, or anyone else’s. The self that is made in the image and likeness of our Maker. So, in the meantime we work with what we have. It's somewhat like a second grader who's getting to know the multiplication table but hasn't stepped up to calculus yet.

I Can Imagine Living Here

I Can Imagine Living

I Can Imagine

I Can

I 

Thanks for your tolerance today. If this blog was boring, try it by thinking of yourself as the “I” person. More fun that way? I thought so!