Item: 1 tall white coffee mug
This was a gift to me for my birthday one year when I was living in Washington, DC. It's got a flower and a quotation from Plato on it and holds a lot of any hot beverage, though it is not the biggest mug I have.
In National Airport yesterday, I almost bought a green Washington, DC mug because I thought it was pretty and because I had to leave and I wanted to take some piece of the place with me. I didn't buy it because I already have plenty of mugs and my conflicted relationship with stuff is already well documented in this space.
It was by and large a comfortable transition back to east coast life this weekend, which surprised me some. A few years ago I first heard the word "ambicoastal," which describes a person who is able to function equally well on the east coast and the west coast. I like this word, because I like to think of myself as a person who can flourish in multiple environments.
It also seems appropriate because it is so close to "ambivalent," which also describes the way I relate to these 2 poles of my existence. I can be a diehard defender of California and still long for the kind of tradition and formality that cannot be found here, and I can be a classy person in heels taking the train back from New York, and still feel a little too restrained, unable to quash the desire to wear hiking boots and be driving my own car, steered by me.
Either way, no matter how much I might run back and forth, I am always missing something. Being back east put a lot of what's missing at the moment at the front of my consciousness. I am still wishing I had bought that mug. It was a really nice mug.
In National Airport yesterday, I almost bought a green Washington, DC mug because I thought it was pretty and because I had to leave and I wanted to take some piece of the place with me. I didn't buy it because I already have plenty of mugs and my conflicted relationship with stuff is already well documented in this space.
It was by and large a comfortable transition back to east coast life this weekend, which surprised me some. A few years ago I first heard the word "ambicoastal," which describes a person who is able to function equally well on the east coast and the west coast. I like this word, because I like to think of myself as a person who can flourish in multiple environments.
It also seems appropriate because it is so close to "ambivalent," which also describes the way I relate to these 2 poles of my existence. I can be a diehard defender of California and still long for the kind of tradition and formality that cannot be found here, and I can be a classy person in heels taking the train back from New York, and still feel a little too restrained, unable to quash the desire to wear hiking boots and be driving my own car, steered by me.
Either way, no matter how much I might run back and forth, I am always missing something. Being back east put a lot of what's missing at the moment at the front of my consciousness. I am still wishing I had bought that mug. It was a really nice mug.
posted by Karen at 6:18 PM
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