The Gratitude Chronicles: Little things big thanks: "There's a red sock over yonder..."

A Brief Introduction

When I made the decision to relocate from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest, I knew that I would be starting over in many respects, and I considered how I might find the right communities, and the like-minded people I would want to share life with. Being an open, friendly person, I do make friends easily, but of course doing that across thousands of miles, and finding just the right place to land from that distance, limits options a little.

After a little thought, I hit upon the idea that I should create a personal web portal for anyone who might be interested in me as a potential housemate, friend, thrifting buddy, windsurfing enthusiast, hiking pal, kindred spirit or workout partner.

'The Gratitude Chronicles' is intended, above all else, to transform strangers into friends, and it means to introduce me, Jorie Jenkins, as a human being, highlighting a bit of what I've been doing for the past 38 years. With this blog I intend to give people from far away a sense of my lifestyle, my thoughts on being, my philosophies, my random observations of the world, and my tendencies as a creative entity.

Unless specified, all photos, images and writings have been, in one form or another, created or channeled by me. If you'd like to learn even more about my creative work in particular, please visit my art and writing site at feathabees.blogspot.com.

As you read, in the right margin you'll see images and anecdotes that better define who I am and what I'm all about. If you're trolling this blog considering me as a potential tenant or housemate, please be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom, where you'll find photos of my current and former living spaces... Just to make it easier for you to find the right person.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

"There's a red sock over yonder..."

While working as a live-in nanny for a wonderful, vivacious family in Ann Arbor, I had the pleasure of caring for a wonderful, inventive and truly extraordinary little boy. He went along with my oddball, spontaneous ideas, which, among other things, included making up rather ridiculous songs. One morning, as I was dressing him on his changing table (he was two, perhaps a wee bit older) he lifted the foot I had just dressed in a red sock, pulled the sock off, and threw it quite a distance across the room.
For some reason, the Jimi Hendrix song 'Red House' popped into my head, and I began to sing:

"Oh, there's a red sock over yonder - that's where my foot it stays. I haven't had my foot inside that sock for 99 and one-half days!"

I already had the precious little guy in stitches, and as he waggled his bare feet in midair, carrying Jimi's original tune, I kept singing:

"Now wait a minute, somethin's wrong - I thought I had two socks here on the floor - I said, wait a minute! Somethin's wrong! I thought I had two socks here on the floor. I got a real, real, real bad feelin... that I do not have two socks here anymore!"

From that day forward, 'the red sock song' was often requested, and being the bright little boy he was, he also started saying "Wait a minute!", usually in perfect (and rather boggling) context. When he asked for me to sing the sock song, sometimes I could belt it out with as much gusto and humor as I had the first time. Sometimes I had a little less energy and wasn't up to it. But he always laughed, and so did I. And every once in a while, when I see a red sock, I start singing the words of 'the red sock song' to myself.