Once upon a time a workshop - Part 2 of 3 - The family

When I arrived in Wellfleet, I knew I had two different types of adventures to live: one would be in the mornings, when I had the workshop classes. After the classes and except when we had special events connected to the workshop, we were free to do our homework assignments and explore the area. The weather was perfect for most of the week. On Tuesday, it got cold and there would be a party for the workshop people at the beach with a bonfire but because it was cold, windy and overcast I ended up not going but apparently they had the party.

As usual, when traveling, I tried to see what Couchsurfing.org had to offer me. Wellfleet was a small village and the probability I would find places offering a couch there was very low. Indeed, there were three girls and only one answered my request. With a maybe. So I rented a room and we kept in touch, so that she could tell me for sure whether or not she would be home by the time of the workshop. Her mother, who was unaware of what CS was, visited her and met some couchsurfers. She liked the project and what Odessa told her about me so she offered to host me.

Because the daughter, Odessa, was busy, working at the film festival, Renae, the mother, ended up spending most of the time with me. She helped me a lot and treated me as part of the family. We would have meals together. I cooked for them once. We talked a lot about the past, the future. We walked the dogs. We went to several beaches, to the ponds. We went to the movies to watch shorts of the festival, and to watch “The Great Gatsby”. We had ice cream, fries. She helped me find my magnets. She drove me to class and back home. She talked to her neighbor, who gently lent her cottage for me to stay for the whole week. We went to a yard sale, to Provincetown. She was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I felt so happy when she was around. I was so happy when she accepted to go with me to the party we would have at the end of the workshop, as we were supposed to take family or friends. She felt like family. She made strawberry pie and had a good time talking to people about everything. I even inspired her to write a poem about a problem that has been afflicting the city. She taught me among other things that if I want to cultivate strawberries, cheap beer is always a must-have. Those drunk slugs thank you. Also, we faced mysteries together, like the strange “fauna” on the beach, some hollow whatever that we thought to be plants but moved! She is so easy to love and I wait for the day we are going to meet again.

Her family was just as extraordinary as she was. Chuck was funny and welcoming. Her 4 kids were so gorgeous and talented. They all played some kind of instrument, spoke other languages, had some type of artsy vein. Odessa was working a lot but we still had time to go places and her boyfriend Loren was also very interesting to talk to. His way to see the world was unique and I wanted to spend hours talking to him. He was the only one to endure waking up at 4.30 to see the sunrise on a Sunday. The girls were pretty tired. Nadia, one of the daughters, writes books for kids. I am sure I’m still going to ask her to sign one for me. She gave me a ride back from Provincetown, one of the nights I went there for some party. The bars were nice and I even learned some skateboarding with Loren (not downhill). 

Provincetown was, by the way, a very nice place to visit. People are very liberal, everywhere you look there is a rainbow flag and same-sex couples were walking hand in hand, friends were hanging out and flirting. The gay community there is massive. There is a boat inside the library and the building is very beautiful. you can just grab a book and sit by a window, staring at the blue sky and the Atlantic.

I felt happy all the time and it was the perfect way to complement my happiness of spending time with my favorite poet and novelist, Marge Piercy.

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On my way back home, I still had one more night in Boston. I had talked to Will and he said it was OK for me to spend that night at his place again. We ended up going to a bar that night, listening to some live music and then we walked to a traditional ice cream place called J.P. Licks. The next morning, one more adventure before going to the airport. He drove me and his friend John to Dover, to a farm, where he had this volunteer work of controlling bird population by going to about 20 nests, counting the eggs, the hatchlings. It was much fun.