http://www.one.org Dixie Peach: Ennui is dead!

Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Ennui is dead!

Ever dread something to the point where you even contemplate backing away? I do that sometimes. Despite the fact that I dragged myself up and moved to Germany without a safety net or a English-German dictionary, I am not very good at new situations. I like my comfort zones. A big reason why I'm content with being home most of the time caring for a quadriplegic - aside from the fact that he's cute and has an amazing personality - is that I'm best when in my comfort zone. I crave the familiar and straying too far from it makes me uneasy. It's that thing I have for being liked. I like to be where I know I'm liked. Having said that, imagine the anxiety and near nausea I worked up this morning anticipating meeting up with someone I met through my blog.

Laura (everyone wave to Laura - she the nice lady with the gorgeous curly hair lurking there in the back) is an American who happens to be in Magdeburg with her husband while he's here on business. Through sheer luck, Googling skills and her love for yarn and the need to buy some she found this here blog. She emailed me to say hello, ask me about buying yarn here in my adopted hometown and after a few exchanges and her reading through the archives here we found that we had a lot in common. Some things are so in common I was expecting Rod Serling to pop out any moment and the creepy music to start up.

Now I had to do it. It was time to put aside my craving for routine, step out of my comfort zone and meet her in person. Americans in Magdeburg aren't common. Americans in Magdeburg who write nice emails are less common. And Americans in Magdeburg who love knitting have got to be fewer still so I'd be crazy not to meet with her. How could I pass up meeting someone that speaks the same language and knits?

I won't say that I had second thoughts about our meet-up this afternoon. I will say, however, that I was on the verge of whipping myself into a froth over it and I became nearly nauseated with anxiety. I set out earlier than I needed to with the idea of walking slowly over to her hotel. A slow walk on a cold day should surely keep down the nausea, right?

I'll admit it. Freely admit it. I was wrong. I had nothing to be anxious about. All my worries and anxiety and queasy stomach was for nothing. I'll just say it. She's fabulous. Fab. u. lous. Fun, easy to talk with, interesting, witty - all those things you wish for in a person when you meet them for the first time, Laura's got them.

It was easy to start off our outing - go where the yarn is! She helped me pick out some 50% silk 50% rayon yarn for my Cozy wrap and she's convinced me that knitting socks on 2 circs is the way to go so I bought needles for that purpose. I loved that about her - she encouraged me to branch out and try new stuff with my knitting and to become a better knitter through it. It was great that she answered my questions and explained things so nicely and didn't think it was so bad that I'm still just a novice knitter.

After that we headed for a restaurant where we talked without a break. There wasn't one lull in the conversation, not one awkward moment, not one minute of dullness. The more we talked the more we found that we have in common and not only little things like our wedding dates being one day apart but we understood the relationships each of us has with our husbands. Her nursing experience lets her have first hand knowledge of what it's like to be someone's caretaker. We could realte to divorce and meeting someone online and marrying them. We just got each other.

After all that it wasn't much of a surprise to find out that she was anxious about getting out of her own comfort zone to meet me.

The afternoon went on and I brought her back to my apartment so she could meet B. I can't help it - I like to show him off. After a good conversation with him I walked with Laura back to her hotel and I got to meet her husband and then in an effort to wring out every last available minute of this visit (they're leaving town tomorrow) they walked me halfway back home while on their way out to get supper. Just a lovely, lovely couple.

So since I know she'll peek in here let me take a minute to thank Laura for a really great afternoon. I needed it. I needed a break from my routine. I needed that trip outside my comfort zone. I needed to know that I could get away from being the wife and caretaker and just do girl stuff for a while and remember how wonderful and rejuvenating it can be. Thank you for the conversation, for the knitting lesson, the goody bag and most of all for great compliments. Let me know when you get back to Magdeburg. We'll hop a train and go find yarn.

Oh. And thank you Google!

9Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's so, so cool, Dix! I love that those steps out of the comfort zone are almost always rewarded in big ways. And I'm thrilled that you had a good break from routine.

Hi Laura!

10:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, this is Cat/MHS from gumbo...I'm guilty of lurking on your blog many times but never "sharing the love" so I thought I'd do so today! Loved hearing about your visit with Laura and love your blog; you are such a descriptive writer (and love the knitting projects for the babies you posted on earlier - that looks very detailed and just precious!) Glad you had some girl time!

2:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to admit that I'm very similar in the sense that I feel better in the familar. But it really does take an opportunity like that to suddenly help us remember that if we give it a chance, we could be opening ourselves up to something fun!

I'm so jealous. No one I know likes to knit so I have to go and buy wool alone. That's not a problem technically. But it would be nice to have someone who will go with me and help me feel a LOT less guilty about adding another 400g to my stash :|

lol

8:32 AM  
Blogger christina said...

Wheeee! What fun!

I think most of us feel better with the familiar but sometimes it really is good to break out and do something different. I always prefer to get to know people in writing first, if possible - kind of takes the edge off and you have something to go on.

The internet has a way of bringing kindred spirits together. :-)

9:29 AM  
Blogger Mahala said...

I can totally relate to the "comfort zone" thing. I sometimes wonder if you get lonely for buddies there in Germany, I'm glad you found a new one :)

6:28 PM  
Blogger Ginnie Hart said...

I think that now your appetite has been whetted, Dixie, you'll go to town meeting new people! HA. I love it. (Nope, I'm not gonna spill any beans about that one!)

6:53 PM  
Blogger BarefootCajun said...

Oooooo, I'm so with you on the comfort zone thing. It takes a lot to drag me out of mine but I'm rarely disappointed when I do finally get out of the box.

Laura sounds fabulous. I'm glad y'all had such a great time. You deserve some girl time. :-)

7:14 PM  
Blogger Mimey said...

Dixie, you are a joy who always renews my faith in the joy and integrity of the internet. I'm considering emigrating to cyberspace (that'd be some comfort zone!) I don't even have a HTML-English dictionary.

7:17 PM  
Blogger sari said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful, wonderful day! I have to say, I'm jealous!!

4:04 AM  

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