East Coasting: A Photo Essay – Jackie Shea
- No Comments
Following up with last week’s post, this is an update of how it’s been going on the East Coast. In summary: better than expected! I’ve been almost myself. It’s been exciting to watch myself do a lot of the things that I couldn’t do even six months ago.
Getting off of the plane last week, I walked right past the wheelchairs and smiled. I didn’t just not NEED a wheelchair; I HAD ENERGY- like plenty of it. Ian and I went to sleep at my Grandmother’s that night. Oma came out to greet us on the special corner where her home sits in the urban sticks. The corner I played on, ate Mr. Softee on, talked to all of the neighbors on, hung out with Alley (our childhood dog) on, and eventually departed on. It’s the corner I did all of my leaving from. Every time I got on a plane, it was from there, a diagonal shot from the front door to the cab, I said goodbye. When I moved to Hawaii, when I’d go home to Hawaii and eventually LA- that’s where I said goodbye. I’ve said countless hellos and goodbyes on that corner. It’s the corner that holds all of my “I love you’s.” I’ve said those words so many times right there, I bet the concrete holds some of my heart.
Ian and I got out of our cab and I said it again, “Oma! You’re so little. I love you. I’ve missed you.” Of course, even at midnight, Oma had food for us. It’s VERY hard for her to understand the extreme diet I have. I mean she’s 85 AND German so to her being gluten free, sugar free, and dairy free means I eat whole wheat tortillas, honey nut cheerios, and “those hairy fruits I bought for you- what are they called- kivis?” My heart really swelled for the effort.
I asked her to take a picture with Ian and she yelled at me. Then later, apologized profusely because she didn’t realize I wanted a picture of her AND Ian, “Oh boy, I hope I didn’t offend him,” she said. I got one anyway.
We went to Lyme, Connecticut the next morning. That’s right, Ian’s family is from LYME, and, yes, that IS where Lyme Disease gets its name from.
I imagine that photo above is what it would look like if we traveled together. I took this photo so the paper is merely a prop, BUT I was totally reading it at some point.
At the Lyme Beach Club, Ian taught me how to catch crabs. I squealed like a scared little shit, but I got a great photo.
We ate THE BEST Lobster rolls at this joint, and RANDOMLY this little New England beach town joint had GLUTEN FREE rolls. Very exciting.
We took Amtrak back to Manhattan in the rain.
-
- Ian Jewett
In the heat of deep Brooklyn, we took a walk and stopped to cool off like a couple of NYC kids. Ian found White Castle super entertaining. We consumed none of their food FYI. Ian left for Germany a few hours later, and we said our goodbyes and “I love yous” on that precious corner before he got in a cab.
That evening, Juliette and I reunited and did what we like to do: we ate some real fucking food. Well, we ate real food that Juliette crafted masterfully for us in a Brooklyn apartment with the perfect view of NYC.
Michael, who just so happens to live in Oma’s neighborhood came to hang the next day. Michael and I worked together on a feature film 10 years ago. Reminiscing about our time together and making new memories, we laughed and laughed AND did a photoshoot.
I got to spend time with my Aunt and Uncle. I haven’t seen them in over two years, and FINALLY, for the first time ever, I saw my Uncle’s band, The Smoking Gun, play in the Hampton Bays at this small-town, water front bar and grill. My Mother came out, and we DANCED. You guys- look at me – Killin’ it with the healthy. My Uncle’s band was so good. To be honest, knowing how talented he is and what kind of music he likes, I thought I was going to get stuck listening to some eccentric jazz music which I WAS NOT excited about, but I was totally freaking wrong. If I had known how much fun it was to see them, I would have gone about 10 years ago. My Aunt showered me with gifts and my Uncle showed me 600 photos from their recent trip to Peru and Ecuador. At photo 200, I was sorry I asked to see any 🙂
Back in Brooklyn, Jessica came to visit me. My oldest friend, and my chosen sister, she loved on me for 2 days. I forced her to do my hair for a few hours and cuddle me which she HATES. Jessica also hates sleeping with me because I like closeness and I’m a mover and a shaker. Also, I talk in my sleep and stuff, but she slept with me anyway – with a giant pillow between us so she had her own space.
In an attempt to throw some shit away at my Grandmother’s, I started taking a trip down memory lane. AKA: MY HORRIFYING PAST.
First of all, that photo of me in the red sunglasses was NOT TAKEN ON HALLOWEEN, nor was it a “joke photo.” That’s just how I dressed. Also, it is a representation of how hard it was to take drunk selfies before the iPhone. That upper photo pretty much represents me as a teenager- drunk and peeing and pouring shampoo on my dear friend who was stuck in the bathtub? And lastly, I graduated from High School which is almost shocking considering that looking at my report cards, I pretty much did poorly ALWAYS in EVERYTHING except drama. But I celebrated graduating with my tongue out – of course.
Pretty normal. Check out those tights. They’re for 80 year olds- just looks like I have a bunch of sagging skin or something. Jessica calls this my young “stripper pose.”
And also just the proof that my Brother has disliked me for a very long time. “The Easter Bunny That Ate my Sister” is a 10 page intricate story WITH vivid illustrations. “I wondered why the Bunny ate my sister and not my pet snakes or something,” he writes. Gee, I don’t know, it’s YOUR STORY, and it could have gone down however you wanted.
I found this book in the very same box that held my parent’s wedding album. So that was funny.
And this is what I’ve mostly been doing the whole time – hanging with my childhood “best friend”/ “daughter”/ “baby”/ “Victoria”/ DOLL. Nothing weird here, guys. Her eyes just look weird because I gave her “pink eye” like 20 years ago and then didn’t actually know how to fix it, but she’s doing great otherwise. SUPER NORMAL.
Check me out, living life and stuff. Just a few more days of New York loving then another “I love you, Oma” on my home base corner and off to Los Angeles for IVIG treatment number 4!
Fun and Love,
Jackie