Modern Maisons and Old Address Books
Modern Maisons by Michelle Cain
I came across this Carson McCullers gem today:
“There’s nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book.”
Ain’t that the truth. So many cliches about home: it’s where the heart is, it’s where you hang your hat, it’s wherever you are. Unlike an email address or mobile number that stays with you wherever you may roam, a physical structure stays behind when its inhabitants move. (Well, I suppose there are exceptions…) Growing up, whenever we pulled out of the driveway in our good ol’ Vanagon, my mom would call out, “Bye house, be good!” And my brother and I would echo her in our sing-song-y voices. (I don’t recall my dad participating in this refrain, but I’m pretty sure he’d be the first one to bellow it now.) I guess in my little kid brain, there was a sense that our home was marking time and keeping space for us. But that was many, many homes ago for me, so it’s been marking time and keeping space for someone else for a long time now. A house (or apartment or any type of building that people live in!) is sturdy and constant even when “the improvisation of human existence” sends us spinning.
I guess that’s why I’ve always been such a sucker for house imagery. As soon as I saw my friend Michelle share this beautiful quilt she made, I messaged her pronto. And now it hangs in our home, reminding me to be grateful for a sturdy and constant place to live.
(Michelle aka From Bolt to Beauty and I worked together many moons ago at Fast Company and now she’s a “modern quilter” extraordinaire…and a published author to boot!)
originally published on instagram