The Worse Before The Better

My house knows what's what.  

The second I decided to remodel, it exhaled like a fat man at a Thanksgiving table and let its buttons pop.  

The toilet paper dispenser fell off the wall.  The latch on my bedroom window broke.  Smoke detectors with brand new batteries began beeping inexplicably.  Windows that have never opened, now won't close. The lock on my front door started sticking.  Suddenly, my living room lights flicker.

My house is like the newly married woman who thinks, "Now I've got my man!  Time to let myself go!"

(Although, for the record, I don't actually think that woman exists.  When women-- and men-- change shape after marriage, isn't it really less "letting go," and more shit-got-crazy-and-kids-happened-and-WHERE-THE-HELL-DID-MY-LIFE-GO?  I mean, c'mon.)

And it's not just my house.  I'm kind of a disaster area myself. 

At the moment I'm typing with one hand because I burned three finger tips on the other hand cooking dinner.  (here's an example og what a sentence looks like ig when i typer wirh one hand amd dob't go back about a hundred tuimnes to edit.)  Earlier today, I left my cell phone in a store.  Fortunately, it was still there when I went back.  

Last week I ripped the butt of my brand new, worn-only-once, pants.  In the middle of a meeting with an architect.  (Upside: it wasn't so much a splitting at the seams thing as a backing-into-something-sharp thing.)  

Moose chewed my black cashmere wrap into shreds after I was dumb enough to leave it on the couch.  My black sweater (also worn only once), suddenly has a hole in the shoulder seam.  (How does that even happen?  It's not like I Hulk-out when I get mad.)

But here's the thing: I see all of these things as a good sign.

In my life, whatever starts out the worst, tends to turn out the best.

So, bring it on, house!  Bring it on, life!

Just do me a favor: let's move on to the turning-out-best part soon, please.  My wardrobe really can't take any more, and I'd really like to keep my remaining fingers tips in tact. 

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And one more reminder: Gretchen Rubin will be talking about her book The Happiness Project at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena tonight, January 25th, at 7 p.m.  Here's the address:

Los Angeles – January 25, 2010
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
7:00 pm

Hope to see you there!

    

Comments

[Chris]

I LOVE your happy attitude with everything that is going on!

Isn't it funny that sometimes all those sorts of things happening together can either send us over the edge or leave us chuckling a little!?

Have fun seeing Gretchen tonight. I guess this is the first time she's met her new little nephew huh? How cool.

I hope this is a start to a good week for you!

[Jen]

Wow, that's quite a list of small annoyances. "I see all these things as a good sign" -- great reframing, to take a page from Gretchen's book! I hear such a fresh, positive energy in your post, and I'm excited for you.

[Melanie]

I love this quote from Anne LaMott, who heard it third hand from someone who heard it from someone who worked for the Dalai Lama (whew!):

"When a lot of things start going wrong all at once, it is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born - and this something needs for you to be distracted so that it can be born as perfectly as possible."

That's what this post reminded me of, and I hope it brings you some comfort.

[sarahfain]

Oh, wow, thats WONDERFUL! Ill be saving that quote for sure.

www.starfishenvy.typepad.com

[Rambles with Reese]

Reading this post is like reading a chapter in my life, except that I don't have any dogs.

Last week, as I was planning one of my lessons, I had a scented candle burning in front of me on my desk, and I accidently laid one of my books near the candle and it caught fire, which I quickly put out, once I saw smoke.

And I almost set my bed on fire with an old electrical blanket a while back. Thankfully, there was a terrible smell to warn me of the smoke before it got worse.

But, I take it all in stride.....because I believe that God watches over me 24/7.

Thanks for sharing!