Learning To Love You More
HELLO ASSIGNMENTS DISPLAYS LOVE GRANTS REPORTS SELECTIONS OLIVERS BOOK

 ASSIGNMENTS:

 

 

Assignment #35
Ask your family to describe what you do.

Erin LaPointe
Chicago, Illinois USA

REPORTS:

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Aunt Susan
After waking, you pour a cup of coffee for yourself, maybe toast an english muffin, and emerge from sleep. Once you decide that Lily can't hold her bladder any longer you throw on a coat, hat, and mittens and take her out for a quick pee. You're not out long; a long walk comes later. Maybe you do some writing while you're eating breakfast or go on-line to write or check e-mails or check your space on MySpace. I just heard you started a new job- a full-time job at a child care center- so you don't linger in the mornings anymore but get right in the shower and dress for work. You might pack a lunch and always pack a book and notebook for writing, grab your backpack and head out. It's quite a long way to your new job, but if the weather is fine you'll walk it. Otherwise you catch the bus and/or the subway. You still look like the Erin I know, with your thrift store clothes and your spiky haircut and your aloofness. I don't think you've been in Chicago long enough to skip down the street yet, but maybe you do that, too, as I saw you doing once on Forest Avenue in Portland.
When you walk in the door of the child care center the kids come running up to you(or of they don't yet-since you just started-they soon will), saying Erin, Erin! or Hi, Erin!. You are glad to see them since you like kids for some reason. Over the course of your workday I will guess that you organize activities for the kids- art projects and maybe simple science projects like growing seeds in paper cups and working with shapes and colors. You try to get them to calm down for naptime, which isn't easy, but they- most of them anyway- want to do well for you so they try to lie very still and hold their breaths to keep from laughing. At some point there is outside playtime, when you are supposed to organize them into some "activity" but you prefer just to observe and let them pretend and do what they do. They like you a lot and some come up to you often to check in.
I will guess that you have a break of your own for lunch and are exploring the neighborhood around the center to see what you might do during lunch time. Maybe you have found a coffee shop or a park nearby where you can sit and find some peace in he middle of a busy day. Maybe you are close enough to home to catch public transport back to the apartment for lunch and a visit with Lily.
I think you work late- maybe around seven when it's dark. You haven't yet settled on your routine for after work since such a long day and the company of children has got you quite tired. For the time being, you head back to the apartment instead of going to the library of the studio or taking Lily for a walk around the lake. Once you have settled into a routine, you will plan to go to your studio a couple of nights a week and stop in at the library once in a while on your way home. You may have even found a branch near the center where you can go at lunchtime. Most likely, since you like the mornings, you will head to the studio before work some mornings and get Lily out for a walk before work when the weather is warm. You are concerned that you might not have time to visit the gym as often as you have been, but you will squeeze that in too, probably at the end of the day and on weekends.
When you get home at night, you will feel guilty if you haven't taken Lily out for a stroll, so you may do that for a half hour or so. But you are tired and still getting used to the new job so you give in to the temptation to sit on the couch with your dinner and read from your stack of books while Lily drools in front of you. You have a sister who fits into your day somewhere, maybe at this time at the end of the day, when you talk about your days like a married couple will do. If one of you has found a cool movie at the library you will watch that or read and maybe do some sketches for your next project. You will continue to worry about how you will do all the things you like to do and need to do to keep yourself sane- the walks and the library and the studio and the guitar lessons and time alone. You won't want to give anything up, but you know yourself well. and you know something will have to go, or at least it will have to happen less often.
At 11:00 you get into bed to read some more or to lie in the dark and think about things. You are glad for the abundance in your life and for the happiness you have found in small things but you still wait for something bad to happen, for something to go wrong. You may always do this. You hope not.
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Aunt Marsha
I Think (And not necessarily in order)
Erin gets out of bed and akes a really good cup of coffee
Erin talks sweet talk to Lilydog
Erin takes a shower and get dressed
Erin takes Lily for a walk- taking her time and holding a little poop bag
Erin spends some time reading- she's reading some kind of fiction- probably short fiction
Erin goes to the gym for a workout
Erin goes to the studio to work
Erin goes to work work
Erin thinks about what she's having for dinner in the a.m.
Erin cooks a nice dinner
Erin checks her email- answers some
Erin reads before she goes to bed
Erin makes sure Lily is fed
Erin takes vitamins
Erin has a drink before bed and takes a sleep med
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Cousin Hannah
I think my cousin Erin does this on a typical day:
Wakes up
Goes for a run with the dog
Tries to wake Lindsey up
Eats anything thats in fridge
Talks with Lindsey about what we are going to do when her amzing cousin flies to Chicago to visit
Gets ready for the day
Watches little children play at recess time
Goes to her studio
Walks home
Takes Lily out
Cooks dinner
Makes phone calls
Watches Law and Order
Goes on the internet
Showers
and goes to bed