I came across this picture while rooting around in my photo archives the other day. I took it almost exactly 16 years ago -- on May 21, 2007, when I lived in New York. As I recall, this mural was on the closed security gate of a shop somewhere in the East Village -- First Avenue? Second Avenue?
I don't think I ever blogged it, though I did post it to Flickr. Birds, leaves, teeth -- I'm not sure what's going on there but it's intriguing and certainly colorful.
Where were you on May 21, 2007?
I was definitely not walking around New York imagining that 16 years later I'd be living in London and working in a school library. Life takes some weird twists and turns sometimes. I hadn't met Dave yet, or even gotten together with my previous boyfriend, Bob. I had a cat rather than a dog. It seems like a lifetime ago.
Yesterday was a pretty low-key day. Work was uneventful, and afterwards I went out to a pub with some co-workers. It was a reunion of sorts, with two moms of previous students who had spent lots of time volunteering with the library and helping us out. My boss is retiring this year so they wanted to get together before she moves back to the states, to be replaced by a previous co-worker -- the woman I met up with in Bruges last spring, who is returning to our school after briefly moving back to Minnesota. Are you keeping track of all this? Believe me, it's a lot of coming and going.
Change is the only constant, right?
It is indeed.
ReplyDeleteMay 21 2007...the day after my eldest's 26th birthday..
Monday morning..I wonder if I wrote in my diary that day?
I was in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, North West Spain. Shirley and I had travelled there for a short break with our friends - Steve and Moira.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think it is outrageous that you are not being crowned King of the Library following The Queen's abdication.
Hmm. I would have been at work in the chemo unit. So much has changed since then. I hate change no matter how inevitable it is - even when the new circumstance is better, the process fills me with anxiety.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's good that you already know the new boss. The devil you know and all that.
Yes, change is the only constant. Amazing how much has changed in your life in these 16 years. I like the art. The birds in flight are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteOn May 21, 2007, I was down on the farm visiting my grandparents who were on their way north for the summer and I heard the story of how they met for the first time and posted it on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what I was doing on that date but I can tell you that I was a whole lot younger then than I am now.
ReplyDeleteThat is one very colorful mural. I don't recall what I was doing on 5/21/07. I do know that I was living in the house in the historic neighborhood with the big yard that the peach-faced lovebirds used to visit. I'll have to look in the photo archives to get closer. A browse through the archives is always fun.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a year I care to revisit, much better now. Your school certainly has a lot of movement! Do you think you'll live permanently in the UK?
ReplyDeletethe lines on the security gate gives the mural a different texture.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to fully grasp that 2007 was 16 years ago, seems like many lifetimes since then. We were living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. I was walking minus tides and learning the names of all the sea life revealed by those low tides. I was young and had a fully functioning memory back then. Time is flying by.
ReplyDeleteLet's see May 2007 - my youngest was graduating high school that year. I was working in a grammar school library and probably doing inventory as we tried to get all of the books returned before the end of the school year!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like your co-workers - the one leaving and the one returning! Makes your job easier...
I can't remember what I was doing in 2007 May. Sad
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a whole different Steve- New York, Bob, a cat??
ReplyDeleteLove the art.
ReplyDeleteMay 21 2007 we were closing on our house in Camden.
May 2007 was the gruesome month when I had oral surgery, three times, and spent my days in a haze of painkillers on the sofa. It was summer weather, hot, and I watched several press conferences where pro cyclists admitted to doping during a previous tour de France live on tv. I remember thinking, does doping kill pain and if yes, can I have some?
ReplyDeleteMay of 2007 was a stressful time in my life. In fact, the entire year and year before it were stressful. Those problems improved, but others replaced them. It's an ongoing cycle. I like the street art.
ReplyDeleteGZ: Do you ever go back and read your diaries?
ReplyDeleteYP: I AM king of the library, whether anyone else recognizes it or not. :)
Caro: Yeah, knowing her and liking her puts my mind somewhat at ease about this change.
Mitchell: It really has been a wholesale reinvention, not entirely of my own making!
Ed: Well, that's cool! It's great to gather family oral history that way. I wish I'd written down more of the stories my grandparents told me.
Ms Moon: As were we all!
Sharon: Yeah, dig into those archives! Maybe you'll be inspired to post some of your older pictures!
Boud: We all have years like that, I guess. I think we'll stay here for the foreseeable future, but long-term I have no idea.
Red: I would think it would be hard to paint the gate with those ripples in it.
Robin: It doesn't seem like it should be that long ago, does it? And yet if I'd had a baby on that day (unlikely) it would be in high school now!
Bindu: This is why blogs come in handy. We can look back. :)
Margaret: I KNOW! Crazy, right? I guess I WAS a whole different Steve in many ways.
Bob: So you've been settled there a while. I thought perhaps you were still in Florida then.
Sabine: Oh, god, that sounds awful. :(
Kelly: There are always ups and downs, I guess. My stressful years were 2009 and 2010, but they were leavened by meeting and marrying Dave -- so plenty of good came amid the madness.
May 21st 2007? Probably at work unless it was a weekend, slogging away at a checkout, being nice to customers when I'd much rather be at home doing nothing much instead.
ReplyDeleteSteve yes occasionally..but at the moment they are not in order and life is a bit disorganised too. I must get back to writing a little every day, even just the weather
ReplyDeleteI can barely remember 2007! Life was the same -- and very different. I was still working and it was still in the good period!
ReplyDeleteEllen D: Sounds just like my schedule -- inventory and getting back books!
ReplyDeleteRiver: May 21 was a Monday in 2007, apparently!
GZ: Blogs are good for that! I get a boost from my daily writing exercise, as mundane as it is.
Jeanie: It seems like not that long ago, but it really was!