An exercise from The Artist's Way

December 10, 1999

My Childhood Room

I didn't really have a room to myself when I was a child. We lived with my grandparents and my mom and I slept in the same room. The thing I remember the most about that room is the wood burning stove.

That stove dominated nearly a quarter of the room. In the winter, it seemed that our lives revolved around it - getting up in the morning and starting a new fire if the one from the night before went out; bringing in wood from the pile stacked up next to the house in back, refilling the stove as the wood burned. I even remember my mom cooking on it a few times when the power went out - and a few times just because she wanted to.

That old stove makes me think of warmth and sustenance. Not the obvious kind, but the kind that comes from family, of being cared for. Those times spent living with my grandparents were not easy nor always happy but somehow, the memories of that stove makes it alright.

Late Teen Years

By the time I was a teen, I had the room to myself. My grandmother decided to get an apartment a few years after my grandfather died and my mom and I kept the house. Our room was now my room and it showed. The wood stove had been sold off before my grandmother moved and I had posters everywhere. My favorite thing in the room was my stereo...that usually was turned as loud as possible and playing KISS, Queensryche or any number of metal bands.

That stereo represents the changes that I was going through at the time. I was becoming my own person - often by being a very loud rebel. It also represents all the new ideas that I was discovering at the time about religion; faith; sexuality and what it meant to be 'me'. It was at many times my voice, saying the things that I had no words for.

My Room Now

I have a very different room now. Technically, it's not a room at all. In my own house, I needed room for my books and for my art so I dedicated both upstairs rooms to those purposes and put myself in an alcove in the hallway. It is pretty sparse: there is a futon; a t.v. and a VCR. I have a drum hanging on the wall across from the bed. That's it. I don't really have anything in here that is my absolute favorite.

It occurs to me that this room reflects my attitude lately. I've been taking too much on myself and not taking time for comfort - or even myself.


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Page Copyright 1999 D. Firewolf