My goodness Holly, your post about the old times got me thinking! Do you remember Baseball Annie? And the pool boys? Was it fun because we all had hope then? Also I think we could be more open . . . . .
I have come to see getting through MLC as going through a maze, but one with several paths through it. There isn't a single right way, but if we keep coming up against a dead-end then perhaps we need to find another direction!
I also see MLCers as living in their own reality, and speaking from that 'distorted' or changed reality A bit like teaching math with base 8 instead of base 10. When you get that it all makes more sense. Except of course with a MLCer the base keeps changing. I wish I had realised that they are not actually crazy, in the irrational sense, but acting out another reality which seems real to them.
The other thing I have come to see is that they are not happy - perhaps initially for up to 2 years when the euphoria of their new life takes over for a time, but even then, there are doubts. They wouldn't shout so loud it they were confident. Then they are stuck and miserable. The smart ones start to do some thinking, but the rest seem to become victims.
Anyway your life sounds really good, and I am so happy for you. So is mine, in my own peculiar way - I have bought a wonderful old wreck of a house with cottages attached which I am renovating . . slowly. I intend to make it into a retreat for writers and people who want a bit of time out. You have to enjoy living in a building site and having not very good nails, and doing a lot of work yourself, but it is fun and people are constantly coming to stay and offer some help, or cook me meals in the primitive kitchen. Although 7 months of the year we live mainly outside. Very different from my former life. I think I an potentially a peasant! Must go and hoe the tomatoes.
