Fallingwater

So, here is the wonderful amazing fantabulous post about Fallingwater.

It began on a dark and cold morning, a Thursday morning to be exact. Knowing that I would not actually want to get out of bed, however much I wanted to see Fallingwater, I set two alarms - the one I normally use and the one with a stentorian roar (which also happened to be plugged in across the room, so I'd actually have to get up out of bed to stop the shrieking). I was sorely, sorely tempted to just crawl back into bed and forget the whole trip. Going out in the dark and the cold to get the car? Driving three hours by myself?

Well, all said, I talked myself into going down to get the car, checking the oil, swinging by the ATM to get some cash, and started on my way... probably one of the bravest things I've ever done. Once I got in the car, though, I felt more in control. The weather I can't change, nor can I change my fears; but the music, or my cruising speed, yes I can.

I only got one little bit of lost, but that wasn't my fault. There was no road sign. But, when I turned around and came back the other way, wonder of wonders! The road was marked. So I got there after all.

And it was beautiful. I'm not sure that I really know how to articulate what it was like at the actual house. It really surprised me to be there and be grown up and by myself. It really surprised me how differently I ended up thinking about the house. I remember pretty clearly our first visit there. Mostly there were lots of old people there touring the house in large groups. There were a couple of college students there though. Art students, judging by their sketch books and assiduous use of them. The tour took a little longer than I remembered, and we didn't get done until close to 2 p.m. So I went to the cafe and decided to splurge a little bit on a hot bowl of split pea soup. It was heaven compared to Lottie pea soup. Little chunks of ham and carrot and very hot and not all soupy.

The trip home was much the same as the trip there - except that I was sort of sleepy and had to stop for coffee, and didn't get lost. And I got to use the cell phone for the first time, so that was pretty exciting too.

Definitely a sacred day. Or maybe I mean holy day. Anyway. A set apart day. A not normal in any sense day. On the trip out, I felt like all the rough waves and conflicting currents had suddenly flowed into this gentle eddy, leaving me floating slowly, looking up at a blue blue sky and thinking, "Oh! How did this happen? I like it." I feel more renewed, and a tad bit readier to face the start of school again. Maybe I won't be able to throw myself back into it, but maybe I can keep my head above water. I realized that what I've been designing in my head as my future ideal studio bears some uncanny resemblances to Mrs. Kauffman's room at Fallingwater. Haha. Well, can't go wrong if it's the same basic shape as a FLW room, right? = D

Eh, that's enough of that. I think most of what I learned will just have to stay with me. Nobody, I think, will care too much about the little glimpses of vision I had, or those sort of weird internal revolutions that, I suspect, only matter to those subject to them. It was good, though, very good.