May 24, 2025

Ok, Jace turned 60, but now Grace is 40.  

I am so fond of you.  You make me smile all the time.

There were 2 other things I thought of today to write about.   One was the idea of hopping downstairs.

That led me to reflecting on my relationships with staircases and my need to have power over them.  When was the last time I was able to hop down a stair case, and in what house did I ever feel able to do so?

My relationship with a staircases began on Chestnut Hill where I learned to walk.  There was an elegant staircase in the front foyer of that house.  It curled up the wall to the second floor, almost too perfect. When I was two I was playing on it with my brother, Paul, 3 years older than me.  We decided it would be fun to put me in a pillowcase and drag me down the stairs for a ride.  My elbow was dislocated on the way down and an emergency trip to the hospital commenced.

I lived in that house several different times and I don't remember not liking it.  I think the house was haunted and I sometimes bumped into the ghosts on the way upstairs, but I wasn't afraid of it.  But I know I never tried to hop down it.  I remember how polished that wood was and how slippery it could be.   

Now, the stairs in the Signal Hill house going down to my bedroom were short,  only 7 steps long and covered in carpeting,  so its possible I did hop down this one.  I certainly lived here in the 13 most rambunctious years of my life.  I know we would sled down them or magic carpet ride down them.  The floors in that house were heated so it was important to be on the ground.  

The Overridge house had two stairwells, I mostly used the back door one.  It was narrow and led to Jason's and my rooms. I know I never hopped down it and I would trudge down it and maybe kind of run down it hands on both walls all the way down, "Hey Mommy"  The Riverside house had a slippery one, too.  I remember Ember sliding down it on his bum with a Fisher Price tape recorder in his hands at 2.  I may have done it along side of him to keep him from breaking an elbow, but I'm sure I was slow and intentional.  Yes, age interferes with the possibility of hopping stairs. 

No I think my hopping downstairs was mainly in my head.  It appeared this morning because I woke up unable to put weight on my right leg and as I looked down the stairs my first thought was to hop all the way down.  Little more difficult at 72 with a bum leg.  

Tonight I went to the theater in Newfane.  It was fun and it was a charming evening.  I'll write about it another time, but it feels too late to write anything more tonight.