Day 18

Day 18.

Which was yesterday, meaning I'll be back tonight to write about today, which at this point, is just a guess as it hasn't happened yet. Yesterday Orion came home from school with a terrible cold and last night was busy with steaming bathrooms and other such remedies. Not so much for writing, when all was done and the house was asleep. As for yesterday:

I've told you before that this is an old house. Realtors would refer to it as 'mid-century.' That means it's not really old enough to be truly interesting, just old enough to have poor insulation, wonky doors and a narrow oven whose broiler has begun to clang open at the slightest crack of the oven door. It's an outdated and narrow oven and I was told a few years ago that to replace it would require tearing out a supporting wall in the kitchen and redoing tile and drawers and, well, if you give a contractor a cookie...

Anyway, it begins to remind me of the bannister finial in "It's a Wonderful Life." The broken finial came off irritatingly in George's (Jimmy Stewart) hand each time he mounted the stairs. Watching the movie, you might wonder why the hell he doesn't just fix the thing. I've seen the movie a number-of -many times and I never had that thought once.

I believe most viewers (including me) don't make that jump to 'just fix it, George' because they're caught up in George's life. He's a man with a very full plate. In fact, he's close to a breakdown. In addition, he's caught in the terrible dichotomy of his life's dreams versus his reality. And, things are moving pretty fast. In the movie, the broken bannister is a metaphor. It's a symbol of the many things George believes are wrong with his life. And we embrace it as such. Beautifully, after George has a rather dramatic paradigm shift (if you haven't seen this movie, WHAT?, please do.) he comes home, the finial comes off in his hand and he kisses it. The messes and quirks and imperfections of his life are beautiful. He's found joy in his reality.

When I sat down to write this post, I honestly thought I was going to be writing about how we can't fix everything at once. Something about priorities. Shows what I know, or what I don't.

Turns out what I'm writing about is learning to love the mess, the whole mess,because that's what life is, if it's wonderful.

I'm going to take a look at that broiler still and see if I can fix it. Later. Maybe.

Have a good one. see you tonight.