Victor's Anchor

Tomorrow I promised the grade 12s a "sharing session" - as a break from all the heavy, emotional work they've been doing in class with monologues. The idea is to share something special; an item, a story, a song, a skill, whatever... and in keeping with my promise not to assign them any work I wouldn't do myself, I have been trying to think of what I want to share with them and I keep coming up with nothing.

I don't want to play my guitar for them, I don't want to sing for them, I don't want to show them my paintings, I don't want to tell them anything personal. I just don't feel like sharing with these people. It's weird to feel that way, knowing that they're actually becoming easier to deal with... but I guess I just don't trust them enough to share much yet.

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After breakfast and a bit of shopping for dog food and dog treats, I spent several hours unpacking boxes. It annoys me that it takes us so long to unpack, that we allow things to sit in boxes for months, even years, sometimes. Some of the boxes I unpacked today were things we hadn't unpacked since our last move, which was in June of 2005. Ridiculous.

It was sort of fun to find old paintings and candle holders and decorations that I haven't seen in a long time. In some cases it was interesting to see how much more I liked things I'd thought weren't so great the last time I saw them. And also how some things I'd loved very much looked less special now. I guess my tastes are still changing.

It made me want to start painting again, seeing all the old studies as well as finding a few empty canvases that would like to be painted. I haven't hung up any of the pictures, just stacked them all up against the wall, but having freed them from their boxes and brown paper wrappings brings them one (big) step closer.

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