Commuter VI
By Cynna Woo
The morning drive back to New Jersey is cold and dark at 7 a.m. This winter has been the snowiest ever. I never mind the drive down to New Jersey too much. It’s the reverse route back over the river and through the concrete jungle of Philadelphia, Yeadon and then Lansdowne that I dread.
A few weeks back my husband Tom and I had two consecutive snow days off together. This four story house has increasing temperatures on each floor. You never saw anyone quite as fast as me when I hurry to the cold and sometimes windy basement to throw in a wash before frostbite sets in. The kitchen and living room are freezing. It makes for really speedy dinner preparation, unless it’s a dinner requiring the oven, which can help warm up the first floor. We can watch TV in the living room by peering out from snuggly blankets. I’m really not cheap with turning up the heat, it’s just warm as toast on third floor bedroom and it makes you want to rip your clothes off. Cue Song One – “Hot in Herre” by Nelly.
While we were housebound and the snow swirled and showed no sign of stopping, we came to the conclusion that we really need a new kitchen. Between taking turns shoveling two feet of snow from our driveway and sidewalk we thought up ways to shorten the distance between our two homes. First, we’ll need to sell the house. After twenty some years, all of the things we did to this house, need to be done again! When you are thinking about selling your house in an older neighborhood and a not so great school district, you must have an eye catcher, something that the buyer want. I would say a new kitchen is on top of buyer’s lists.
Thus, lately commutes to work have been filled with visions of cabinets running around in my head. You would think I am redesigning the Taj Mahal rather than my little blue galley of a kitchen. I remember picking out the wall paper back in the eighties and trying to match that blue pattern with the paint we would apply to our 1940’s cabinets. I can almost hear Barbara Streisand singing “Memories” now.
Last month I was dreaming of a city pied-a-terre, a place to return to every weekend, a place where you walk to restaurants and bike along the Schuylkill River. Every idea includes a “but first”. Sell the house, but first remodel. Remodel what … oh yes the kitchen, but first plan and cost and save and spend. Every weekend in February was spent in Lowes, Home Depot and Sears. My ability to choose the highest priced anything is uncanny. Once the choices are made, it’s time to clean out the cupboards and heaven forbid, throw away that 20 year old Tupperware. This takes hours due to daydreaming at every baby spoon I hold, and the picture in my mind of each of my little kids holding certain cups or cereal bowls.
Let me take some photos so I’ll remember this old kitchen. Cue the Beatles, “In My Life;” doesn’t everyone’s life have a soundtrack like mine does? This is definitely going to take more time than I thought. But first, let me turn off Jimmie Leeds Road and hope I can find a parking place among the mounds of snow.
The Commuter is a column by Cynna Woo. She has been commuting between South Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs for the last four years. When she first landed her great job as an academic advisor in N.J. she did not mind the drive. But, driving 65 miles one way grew old very fast. She shortened the drive time by buying a condo in Smithville, NJ. She now lives like a single person during the week and commutes to her “big house” and husband of 35 years, on the weekends. She would like to share her commuter musings, while driving. She will actually write them down when she gets home, because she hasn’t perfected writing while driving quite yet. Cynna enjoys reviewing movies, show tunes, listening to Howard Stern, speaking in french, collecting mermaids, hiking, and spending quality time with her amazing family.
