Popination Vacation
a series of unhinged personal essays disguised as pub reviews. Today, a very special holiday edition: The Space Between.
I will be indulging in an alternative to New Year’s resolutions this year, starting officially on Jan. 3rd: something I like to call Damp January. It’s basically Dry January, but with a couple scheduled and mindful exceptions. My exceptions will be the 12th, as that Friday is the next scheduled Blue Dime Cabaret show, and as those take place at a distillery, I find I like to be able to sample the venue’s wares. Besides, I’m doing an act that night that includes sipping on a whiskey, so. The other exception will be the weekend of the 26th, as that weekend I will be on a visit to my good friend and co-podcaster at his house in Wichita. I’ll be sure to write about my favorite Kansas popinations whilst there, don’t you worry. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to still do popinations during Damp January (or even Moist March which I’m also planning on)—I can always write about Popinations Past, or hey. I’ve discovered I very much like Guinness 0, and Heineken 0 can be quite a refreshing beverage too.
So stay tuned for all that, and Happy New Year! Here’s a slightly odd take on the popinations today; a little comfort zone I call The Space Between.
Home for the holiday
I’m curled up in the squishy leather chair, big enough for even big me to get a little swallowed up by it. I’ve got my left ribs leaning against the left wooden armrest, and a glass of fine whiskey on the rocks is by my left hand under the lamp on the table. This is how I am most comfortable, and how I sit quite often, during the whole week, usually, of Christmas. What am I doing there, besides sipping on this lovely whiskey, gifted to my partner by his stepbrother as a Xmas gift (or is that the other way around)? I’m watching a very close and exciting game of pool. Let me explain:
Both Sides Now
Ever since I got to know my partner’s family and thereby became part of the extended family myself, I have joined Partner and his kids in their yearly eternal drive up I-70 to the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains to a pretty little town called Cedaredge. This is where his mom and stepdad live, and where I’ve spent many a Xmas week for a few years now. My loungey nest in the chair watching epic family pool tournaments is in the basement, but I need to explain why it’s called The Space Between:
This Side
There are two sides to my in-laws’ home. The first and main part, the part where they live with their three giant white dogs and where they cook all kinds of things at all times especially when they’ve got their grandkids over, is what I call (unofficially) This Side. It’s the main house, basically. It’s got a fabulous front yard where there’s always deer and birds of many sorts to sit and watch at the feeders, and a beautiful expansive back yard with a cool winding path down to the creek amid the cedars, a hot tub and a couple nice places to shoot a BB gun. This Side has my favorite big squishy leather reading chair, part deux, in which I also often curl up, here to read or to chat or to watch kids open their presents. Lots of great cooking happens on This Side, by both grandparents but mainly Grandma, with the regular special parting breakfast of beignets (which the boys have deemed better than the ones they had on their visit to NOLA).
The Other Side
The duplex connection to the main part of the house is actually officially called The Other Side, an erstwhile Airbnb that is now not being rented out to anyone, but has always been another comfort zone for visiting family. It’s a whole ‘nother place, two bedrooms and a really comfortable leather couch where Partner and I have spent many a lovely chat over wine to get away from the bustle of the familial crowd, or when it’s too cold out to watch the birds. This place is also very comfy, and as it was really named The Other Side during its airbnb days, and since that basement with the pool table and the laundry areas and the extra fridges and storage closets and mom-in-law’s art studio and stepdad-in-law’s office is the only thing that connects This Side to the Other Side, I call it:
The Space Between
It’s a low-ceilinged, rather curvy series of hallway and nooks, is The Space Between, with the central feature being the pool table. When the kids were little, they’d gather down there to play the Wii and raid the toy closet, while the adults played pool or just watched or joined them on the Wii. Later, the older of the kids learned how to play and now gives both his dad and his grandpa a run for their money in the pool tournaments, which always end up taking place at some point during our stay.
There are house rules, but as I’m unclear as to official rules of billiards, I can’t claim to have a good handle on them. I do know that you don’t have to call every shot, just those where you’re going for the 8 ball. The rules of scratching are only slightly looser than official ones, as I understand them, and you have to play any dog as it lies.
Sometimes at past holidays, if it was a full house and the airbnb was occupied we’d sleep in The Space Between, but usually not. It’s a place to do things midway between dinners and sleeps and other things; it’s a liminal space in that way. It’s in between in more ways than one. But I have my favorite spot and my favorite drink at that spot there, and that’s been a regular thing since I’ve been a regular there.
So obviously: this place isn’t a pub (or bar or tavern), but it is still a gathering place for community (in this case, family); drinks, camaraderie, and games. And conversation. And a close tense game of pool. Is the Space Between a 3rd place? Maybe. Kind of. Sort of? It’s technically located in a 1st place (someone’s home), but it’s not really in either the main house or the Other Side. It’s between. It’s got almost everything a 3rd place does, too, and functions very much like one. I’d say the only thing it doesn’t share with a 3rd place is its population (all family, no strangers). But even then. You do go down there to chill, have a sip of something good, and maybe you’ll run into somebody who wants a game of pool. Sounds pretty 3rd placey to me.
