Mom's “Mad Room”

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Everyone needs their space, and another slick feature of Comfort Island is that there is space galore. Kira and I took over the upstairs bedroom facing the main channel after Deb moved to the three-room maid’s complex. I took over the room next to ours where Ellen-Betsy stayed during her early years, and I turned that room into what Mom had identified as a “mad room.” I never quite figured out what she meant by that, but I do realize it was about having a place to go to get away from it all.
Mom’s mad room was situated off the living room that later became known as the catchall “antique room.” The room had a large, varnished oak desk with pigeon holes located at the far edge of the writing surface. I remember her stowing things like the Consuelo payment coupons, correspondence, and stationary in the handy compartments. She also kept things like knickknacks and other personal items in the drawers. Some of her sizeable hat collection found a temporary home on or next to the desk as well.
Deb had her own office next to her room in the maid’s quarters. Kira grew to like the dining porch as her daytime getaway venue. Dad took over the spacious room next to the room with the upstairs fireplace where he and Mom slept.
My special area was a cozy and solitary setting where I could contemplate and create. I received a padded rocking chair for my birthday in the early 1970s that I placed in an optimal position to view the channel and the Narrows. I used this hospitable seat until the armrests had no fabric left and the rocking apparatus broke. I replaced it with a new rocking chair not once but twice.
I had a throw blanket that I’d cover my lap and legs with when the weather was uncivilized. I occasionally used a space heater too when it ...

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... the scene around 1990. The computer took the drudgery out of editing my work. I could “cut and paste” to improve a presentation, and if I had grammar errors or spelling mistakes, fixing them was as simple as pressing the delete key and retyping the affected section. The computer undoubtedly improved my writing overnight. I could now think about what I was going to say rather than worrying about how to get the general message onto the paper without mishap.
Having so much free space is a luxury that comes with living in a mansion. The Grenadier house is big but nowhere near the size of Comfort, which is okay when the weather is pleasant because there are an array of seating options on one of the two outside porches. However when it turns cold, and other family members are there to share the limited indoor space, it causes me to long for my mad room at Comfort Island.

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