When my mom was asked at Petit Paris if she wanted her Pepsi regular or €œnon-GMO,€ she turned to me to translate.
When a friend told me about her problems with her boyfriend, she cited the direction their apartment door faced as a major contributor.
Since moving to Fairfield from Des Moines, I’ve started thinking of these only-in-this-town situations as €œFairfield moments.€ (This is a nod to the late, great Des Moines Register columnist Rob Borsellino, who wrote about €œIowa moments€ after moving from NYC to Des Moines.)
I love these Fairfield moments. I’m grateful for this community’s broad interests in sustainability and spirituality and holistic health. And the quirky atmosphere suits me. In Des Moines, especially at my corporate job, I often felt like my interest in new-age spirituality made me the weirdest person in the room; I appreciate that there’s little chance of that in Fairfield. For me the hippie sensibilities, the diverse beliefs, and the intense overheard coffee-shop conversations help make Fairfield a cool place to live.
My three-year-old son is blessed with playmates with diverse backgrounds, abilities, skin colors, and family beliefs. He has lived in Fairfield his entire life, and situations that seem delightfully quirky to me are just ordinary to him:
- On the star chart he brings home from daycare, activities like naptime and story time appear next to yoga and €œcosmic class,€ and he gets an organic, vegetarian lunch.
- He has pretty decent form on half a dozen yoga poses, and there’s nothing sweeter than his hands folded in prayer, little head bowing down, and a whispered: €œNamaste.€
- When he lies down to sleep, he likes to chant the Sanskrit: €œOm namah shivaya.€
- When he got a lollipop in his Easter basket, his first question was: €œIs this owganic?€
Maybe those of you who grew up here are as acclimated to Fairfield’s quirks as my son is. But I think I can speak for other transplants when I say: We may not be able to get a decent spicy tuna roll in this town, but Fairfield moments keep things interesting.
[Missy Keenan blogs at Hugging the Midline.]
I have so many Fairfield moments, I do not know where to begin. So I'll mention several from today – a potluck put together in the last couple days with many long-time good friends Our coterie can boast many great and creative cooks, so our potlucks are gastronomically "above average," as Garrison Keillor would say. No jello salads are ever make an appearance, but here's a sampling of what we shared today:
Grilled salmon
Roasted chicken
Fairfield CSA-grown salad greens
foccia with kalamata olive tempenade, goat cheese and pesto
Asian noodle salad with tempeh
Oven friend potatoes
cole slaw
pasta veggie salad
enchilada pie
organic deviled eggs
Whole wheat noodle salad / roasted veggies
selection of micro brews
assorted teas and juices
Organic pie and ice cream
We ate, talked, and caught up on each others' news in the shade of some century old trees in our friend's backyard. Spring flowers were blooming, there was a cool breeze. As we were leaving, we discovered a cardinal bird's nest with 3 bright red nestlings in an evergreen, right next to the back door.
My moments come minus the quirk aspect, with the possible exception of the menu existing in the land of mayo-based macaroni salads in a town under 10K population.
"When a friend told me about her problems with her boyfriend, she cited the direction their apartment door faced as a major contributor."
When I moved here I was unfamiliar with the whole facing east thing. Early on in my business someone came into my office and during the course of the conversation advised me that I re-arrange my desk so that I am only counting money when facing east. I thought he was trying to tell me I should put myself in the corner so it was more private o.0
When the TM Sidhi program first started back in the 1970's, there was a great t-shirt produced my MIU staff person and amazing artist,Bill Groetzinger (BIll, where are you now??) It showed a 'roo sitting cross-legged, eyes closed and big smile, hovering over a cornfield. Caption was "Knee high by the 4th of July" Not sure what the non-university crowd made of it…..
Another Fairfield moment occurs to me when ever I attempt to remember a friend's new name they have given themselves, usually precipitated by some spiritual shift or epiphany they have experienced. This happens more times than I can say. I'm really bad at remembering names under the best of circumstances, let alone Name 2.0 that a friend has adopted, especially if it contains the syllables "ananda," etc. I find myself apologizing, and yet thinking, "I really shouldn't have to do this."
Amazing huh? The quality of food found at potlucks in this town continually breaks any stereotypes you might have of a small midwestern town.
I love quirk. I also love uniqueness, small-townishness, and every once in a while a good mayo-based salad.
I attended a potluck yesterday that had an equally amazing array of dishes. No mayo- or jello-based salads for sure! I can't always get the culinary diversity I crave at local restaurants (although I shouldn't complain much — our restaurant choices are certainly more diverse than most small Iowa towns!). But people make up for it by becoming amazing cooks, and the potlucks are typically awesome — even sushi often makes it to the menu. Someone should do a post soon just about the joy of Fairfield potlucks!
Yes, those moments of ignorance can create some interesting conversations. For the first year or so that we lived here, I thought Roo was short for "kangaroo" instead of "Guru"! Vedic flying, you know?!
Any chance of getting a photo of that t-shirt? Sounds pretty cool.
I used to have a poster of it, but it has disappeared. I can try again to track down Bill……