Love it!

Last night we had Notorious V.E.G. over for dinner, and as happens a lot these days (and not just with him) the conversation turned to houses and whether sooner than later might be a good time to buy a house, at least in the previously terribly expensive Bay Area. My lovely husband and our fantastic chef, advocated that it was a good time, but only if you were ready to *love* a house. Notorious pushed and pulled on that concept from various angles, and I dissolved into what can only be called an "I don't have a house and I want one" temper tantrum. Thinking about the whole issue this morning during a swim, I think if I have to pick a principle about house-buying, I'll stick to Arne's: plan to *love it*, or else wait to buy.

I guess what I'm saying is that especially in the current market, which has inevitably hit below the belt of any trend and any reputable forecast, without actually loving the place you'll be living and being in it for the long-haul, you seem to really risk your sanity and definitely your financial well-being if you're not thinking about a big investment like a house with love as a first defense.

This love it first attitude is one of the things I really like about Arne, and something I hear that he likes about me. He's got a lot of love in him, and when he focuses it on something he really wants, I believe wholeheartedly that the thing he loves will begin to exist and enrich him. I'm speaking specifically about his movie now. Girls Rock! Movie is so great because you can see how much Arne and Shane loved the stories of music and a smidge of freedom transforming the lives of girls. I am continuously overwhelmed by this work of his, and so very proud of him. Just a few days ago, he said to me that he was so very glad to have had the experience of making Girls Rock! and that having worked on a subject that meant so very much to him was really a gift. How else would you get through the crazy ups and downs of creating, producing, and distributing a movie?! The industry is full of hyper-excited individuals who never call you back, and a kind of continuous negotiation that it turns out is never done. I'm really proud of Arne for honing in on the thing that makes the craziness worth it: Love! And with the DVD release having also been such a wild ride, it comforts me that at least some of the time, Arne's passion for the subject and the love he put into the movie make him feel just giddy about the accomplishment of sharing this work with other people. Love seems to be really the only approach that makes sense right now, anyway, since everything feels so unstable and unknowable!

I remember the story that my parents told me about the house I grew up in, on a little lake in Georgia. They hadn't even seen the house yet, but as they were driving around the lake, a flock of around 80 geese (some years we counted as many as 120) flew over the car to land in the lake. At that point, before seeing the actual edifice, my mom loved the house. It was a truly fantastic place to grow up, and a great investment for my parents, though a struggle to keep from time to time. In retrospect knowing how close they were to not keeping it, I wonder if looking through love only was the best plan. But then I think of really every childhood memory being tied to that house and that place, and I feel pretty darn good about their decision to put us there.