Sunday, April 14, 2013

On life being predictable

To Whom It May Concern:

When I was young and somewhat stupid, my biggest fear was that life would somehow turn boring.  And in the young and not yet fully developed brain, boring = predictable.  Life was supposed to be full of surprises and adventures.  And butterflies.  Now that I am older and wiser, I appreciate some predictability that at times is lacking in my life.  Actually, I crave it.  For example, I would love to see my girls in the morning with the same hair length they had the night before.  A rather modest wish, no?  Or, if having my makeup untouched by little hands is too much to expect, at the very least I would love to find it in usable condition and in the same place/room/house I left it.

So when I feel like I can't take anything for granted and there's nothing I can count on in this life, life/God/Universe shows me that things are not as dire as I thought.  For example, just last Saturday I was reminded that if for some reason I don't clean the table after the meal, I can fully expect to see dirty plates and food still on the table hours after the meal has ended.  Or that no one will refill toilet paper in the bathroom except for me.  Or that there will be dirty clothes in all corners of kids' rooms, except for hampers.  Or that kids will take hours to find scissors for school projects, but somehow manage to give themselves haircuts in those three minutes you turned your back on them.

And there's my message to the life/God/Universe.  If you feel the need to remind me that I do have things in life I can count on, could you please not send all the reminders in one day?

Thank you very much.

Your truly,

SW