Monday, August 30, 2004

It's the depth dummy!

As Freee and I were driving home from Tucson, Freee mentioned that she thought the varying shades of the mountains along the horizon in front of us were beautiful. In my pragmatic way, I responded, “It’s the depth.” She laughed at me and said something like, “uh…duh.” And, we joked about it the rest of the way home, not because I said something stupid, which I did, but because I stated the obvious.

Often times, my life is so busy that I forget to stop and appreciate the beauty, the depth that life affords us.  I recognize it, but I really don’t SEE it. I feel like the past several weeks have been a time of great inner growth for me. So much has happened, and at such a frenzied pace, that I haven’t really had the chance to digest it all – to realize the depth. 

Over the next couple of days, I want to try to write as much as I can about the doggy rescue experience before the memories get muddied.  However, I am sure the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds is whether or not Peachy is who she represents herself to be in her journal. One of the life lessons that I’ve been learning through journaling is that our writings are open to the interpretation of the reader. As such, J-Land writers are at the mercy of the perception of the reader.

I’ve been reading Peachy since her days of “Pull up a Chair.” My perception of her was that she was the epitome of a soccer mom, improved upon to the nth degree.  She had it all - the perfect hair, the perfect little body, the perfect house, the perfect mini-van, the perfect 2.5 children, and the perfect marriage to boot. What kept me coming back? After all, I am none of those things! The one redeeming quality was that she was a klutz. I can relate to klutziness! It didn’t hurt that she was funny as hell too.  Or, that she has the ability to write stories that pull at your heart strings so tightly that you can’t help shedding a tear or two. Okay, so a few even had me blubbering like a baby. But, don’t tell her  that, she’ll stop writing them.

Well, as much as I’d like to dispel the concept, she really is who she is in her journal. But, what I didn’t expect was that she was so much more. The first thing I noticed when we met was her absolutely gorgeous green eyes. I tried to capture them but pictures just don’t seem to get the vividness of the color.  As we talked, she would say some of the most practical, intelligent things that left me stunned because in one of our conversations she said she didn’t buy into all that “psycho-babble.” I questioned her and Wayne about this. Where did they come up with their concepts on life, love, and raising two well adjusted boys if they didn’t buy into ANY of the “psycho-babble?” In a truly humble fashion, they wouldn’t accept responsibility. They gave credit to God, to Papa Rod, to anyone but themselves. That’s just the kind of people that they are.  They even tried to blame it on common sense but if that were the case there would be a lot more people like them running around and clearly there isn’t.  

I left Los Angeles on Saturday morning with the mind-set that I had a task to perform.  I returned on Sunday feeling like I had just returned from a vacation visiting family. The way they opened their hearts and home to us humbled and amazed me so much so that I feel I owe them a debt of gratitude for allowing me a glimpse into their lives. I’m still a little perplexed how to fit it all in with the perception that I had of Peachy when I was only a reader of her journal but I guess what has happened is that I now see the depth. It really is the depth dummy!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

GREAT entry!   I love this, openess...not that you are not.  But, just they way you conveyed your feelings and how at awe you were with "new" realizations.  It IS about the depth!  LOL!
hey....when are you coming to Seattle???

Anonymous said...

Robbie, this is a beautiful entry.  I love the way you tie it all in with depth.  That's what this weekend was - varying degrees of depth.  The dogs.  The drive.  Peachy and her friends and family.  I'm still a little overwhelmed.  It all happened so fast.  But I'm forever grateful for the experience.  It touched my spirit on many levels.  [and now I miss them.  when are we going back?]

Anonymous said...

How deep!  (no, really!)  And how lucky to meet these two--no! four! counting Butter and Trey-- journalers!  The best part is that you are all such great writers to be able to describe your "confluence" in such detail.
Wait'll we meet.  You'll find all I do is giggle in awe.
~~mumsy

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you had a safe and rewarding trip.  

Anonymous said...

God Bless you and Free for what you did. You are special people. I know this is an experience you'll never forget.
Have a great day.
R.C.

Anonymous said...

i have been so neglectful not jumping over to your journal when i found out what you and Freee were doing for Peachy and her brother and the pups ..
you are an inspiration .. to go to such lengths to help out on such a heart wrenching situation .. i hope you continue to write more about your trip
pamela

Anonymous said...

Glad everything worked out well and you had a nice visit.

Anonymous said...

Awww.. what a great entry!  You always write with such clarity, Robbie.  That's something I really admire about you.  Love the photo, of course.  Peachy looks younger than I thought, more girl-like!  Gotta love her t-shirt.  LOL  Isn't it amazing how journal friends are so amazingly close to you.. you really can't get it until you're face to face and realize they're just like family.  I'm glad your trip went well and that the two of you got home safe.  ::smile::

Anonymous said...

Wow, great entry. I agree, it's so hard to take a moment to notice the depth, especially when our society is about as deep as a kiddy pool.
The picture is fun - I'm with Slo, Peachy does look girl-like and her t-shirt is hysterical.
Happy the trip was a success, and you made it home safe.
XOXO....Kelli

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a really good time.  Looking forward to reading more details...  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Y'all are so cute.

Anonymous said...

Aww! You guys all look so sweet! Peach looks like a little girl...younger than I thought. LOL -B

Anonymous said...

Dang it I knew you must have written an entry by now.  I think my alerts just show up when they want to, lol, because I didn't get the one for this entry but did get the one for Wed.'s entry.  I'm glad you had so much fun.  I wonder about things like that too when I read journals.  I tend to trust that journalers are who they say they are, but like you said...Am I perceiving them differently from what they really are?  Great entry Robbie!

Sammie
http://journals.aol.com/ladydriversammie/MovinOn

Anonymous said...

Robbie that is nice and I love Peachy too.  She is a wonderful person.   john

Anonymous said...

What a great pic ~ you all look very fresh-faced and open-hearted.  I'm glad it turned out so well.

Very interesting point too about the relationship between journal writers and their readers; writers in general, I guess ~ the distance between what we mean to project, what the audience perceives and what is actually revealed in the text can be considerable.  Nicely done..I mean, Deep!  :)

Anonymous said...

First off, beautiful entry, words & pic!  What you said about depth to Freee doesn't seem dumb to me: you were explaining a scientific, natural phenomenon.  :-)  Funny that you write about whether journalers are really "like" how they seem in their journals... I had been thinking about that yesterday. We are all multi-faceted, and keeping a daily journal allows us to present different sides of ourselves.  It's still not the same as interacting with someone in person though, which is why all these "confluences" between journalers that have been happening recently are so great!   love ya, Albert

Anonymous said...

what an amazing summer for you, eh?  how amazing is all of this...

succulent friendship and observational wisdom....