So the house next door is now an Airbnb. It’s been a bizarre experience.
The thing is, I’ve lived in my neighborhood forever. I grew up here. I lived here while I was going to college. I’ve seen generations grow and move (and, sometimes, return). The usual patterns of a neighborhood have been fascinating. Wasn’t it Eudora Welty who spoke of the importance of staying in one place, of watching those life patterns, and letting it inform the work?
Something like that.
Anyway. The house. It’s nothing fancy, in (obviously) an older neighborhood. The chain link’s got rust on it, the street has cracks, and when it rains, the neighborhood floods. A few years ago, the flood drew lightning and knocked out electronics all down the street. (Bye, bye, my six month old computer.) I’ve known the string of owners of the house that’s now an Airbnb since the eighties. I know all about the year-old dog buried in the backyard (struck by a car) and the little girl’s name carved into the wooden swing. I know the history of it.
And knowing the history, I guess, makes it seem a little heavy. Which is the opposite of a vacation.
Now, this is what a vacation home should look like.
But the people who rent it don’t know any of that. They know it’s a quiet neighborhood and the people are nice. The house is well put-together and clean. They wave happily at me when they come out with their dogs. Last month, they were taking pictures of the colored leaves on the trees, and everyone who comes seems to marvel at the getaway-ness of it all.
All in this place that has never, not in my entire life, been a getaway place.
It’s all relative, of course. One person’s everyday is another’s special escape.
But I have to admit, it has made me look at it all with fresh eyes.
My neighborhood, the great escape.
First, I have to thank you guys for grabbing copies of MILES LEFT YET. I originally released the book in ’16, and it’s always been one of my faves, but it just never managed to get in the hands of as many readers as I’d hoped. A new cover, a little advertising, and voila! It’s finally starting to get out in the world. In the last month, I moved triple the entire lifetime sales of the book.
Holly Schindler - Writing & Publishing 