Chance = Change

I've never been much of an Ikea fan, UNTIL NOW!

Peter, Stephen and I spent 5 hours inside the Emeryville Ikea Store two days ago, and many dollars (and my sore feet) later, we emerged into the rainy evening with enough boxes of furniture parts to make us all fear we would not be able to fit them in our Ford Escape.  But fit them all we did, and with Stephen navigating, and Peter driving (and me crouching comfortably in a small corner in the back seat, we slowly but safely navigated our way back to Lombard Street. There was a massive column of  boxes cutting through the middle of the car, so Peter could not see either Stephen or me, and I could see only the back of Stephen's head, but with expert communication and trust, we made it home.  Peter put together one chest of drawers yesterday, and already the clutter is clearing. We have hopes for enough storage space to help us be neat and contained.  It's not stylish, but it's surely useful, and I have hopes that I can make the spare Scandinavian style our own, with a few touches here and there.  Mainly, it's inexpensive, and given our recent shedding of major furniture pieces for the move West, "inexpensive" translates to me as "disposable".  This is appealing and very very practical and, as I said, useful.

We hit the huge store in Emeryville on the day the Ikea company was throwing its annual Employee Christmas Party right in the store, so there was an air of anticipation, and a yummy smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns floating through the first floor checkout area.  We shopped 'til the very last moment, and the store was literally shutting down lights as we passed through aisles, creating a rather ghostly feeling 'round the entire venture, and I could imagine the tired-looking clerks checking their watches for the witching hour of 6, when they would rush to the large bathrooms, change into party duds, and emerge, hoping to look transformed and festive, as they joined long lines of fellow workers for the free Swedish meatballs, Norse champagne (is there such a thing?) and powdery sweets provided by the Store management for their delight and refreshment.

Would drunken employees dance on top of the Spartanly-designed bedside table inventory that night? Would Carlina from Office Cabinets sing her yearly "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" atop a stack of Billy shelves, and bring a tear to the eye of the female  Floor Manager who had a secret (but well-known) crush on her all year long?  Would Ikea romances sprout like so many Malm drawer inserts and fade by the light of the florescence the following morning ?  Just how wild would this Ikea Employee Christmas Party get?

My mind had time to wander over such topics, as I sat guarding our many goods , while Peter and Stephen surveyed the car for solutions on how to get it all home. I also sat there, tortured by that lovely cinnamon bun aroma, because i knew that even if I did leave the scene of the purchases to get myself a freshly baked bun, no one would want - and I mean who would ask for such trouble?? - no one would want what I was guarding: there was too much of it, and at Ikea, nothing makes sense unless you have it all together...so whoever would steal from those three (!!) wagons of furniture parts would be asking for a long night of trouble at home!  I was safe from theft, so I had to discipline myself for other reasons not to rush over and buy a tray of cinnamon buns and consume them for comfort and joy.

Finally - miraculously, if you ask me - they guys got the car packed (which is why we must keep guys in our lives...they pack cars so damned well) - and we were off on our somewhat suicidal journey home. I think the word my husband used was "precarious"...and yes, it was that.

But here we are now, with one chest built (and sweaters magically stored in it), two more chests of drawers to build, and one large Billy/Peter/Stephen-designed construction for our internal hallway, which will hold a multitude of necessary items and clean us right up! At least that is the plan.

My end of the deal? To continue to get rid of as much clothing as possible, as many household goods we still have too many duplicates of and to - like my Norse forebears (not!) - bite the chilly bullet and reduce our life to the clever minimum! Already I have taken stuff to Good Will on Bay Street, all the while wondering why the hell we bothered to bring it with us cross-coutnry, and I've no greater desire right now than to live a spare, clean, tasteful, quality life, with less stuff in it...(as long as it's "good" stuff, of course)...so maybe the Swedes are attempting to teach us another lesson with their Ikea invasion: not only how to bake killer cinnamon buns, but to look at life as something to carefully carve out of the precious cold of reality, warm it up with one or two brightly colored throw pillows, and be grateful for the few good things we know have value .  My dear friend Ann might not agree - she tends to value the old and the "handed-down-through-the-years" of it all - but this move West into new dawns is showing me a new way that I want to live, and i promise you: pack up your house for a cross-country move  and see if you don't agree that less turns out to be just right, if only we have the courage  to let go of the rest.

Labels: San Francisco Thoughts