There is something shifty happening in the cosmos this week for nearly everyone I know.
The other day, right after I put up that picture of the BSB with the Muppets, my computer did something bad. You know how your television fuzzes sometimes? The screen did that, then it faded away into oblivion. I had just put the final touches on the last day of my presentation, and not an hour earlier finished my last paper and saved them to disk. It's as though my computer was cutting me a break and waiting to explode until I was done.
Day after that, I'm sitting in the PubLib using the computer when my mother calls. I get up to take her call and subsequently leave my wallet for the crackheads.
She's calling to tell me that the woman who is renting my childhood abode now has cats, dogs, rabbits, chickens, roosters, snakes and hamsters living in the house. My parents want to kick her out, but the lease they outlined in the beginning is hugely trust-based, and mostly ineffective. Mom can't sleep at night for worry.
The advice I end up giving my mom is the advice I'm constantly giving myself: Only worry about what you can actively change. Can mom make the animals disappear? No. Can she call someone about arranging a new lease? Yes. That's it. Don't worry about anything but that. Can I make my wallet come back? No. Can I stop someone from using it? Nope. Can I cancel my cards and get a new drivers license? Yep.
So mom called back yesterday to check on my progress.
"Sonya. I've got to tell you. I tried it, and I slept the whole night through last night for the first time in weeks."
Nothing better than shaving the world down to a manageable bite.
Posted by Sonya at December 7, 2005 09:59 AMthat is some of the best advice i've heard in ages.
Posted by: corey jo at December 7, 2005 12:53 PMsjet. can donna and I come and see you at your Seattle palace?
x
Posted by: ian at December 7, 2005 02:54 PMYou know, you and I had a conversation about 4 years ago where we talked about a book we'd both read and how what we took away from it was that everyone has a choice about how they react to things and how they deal with the world. The thing is, ever since that night, I associate you with the idea. So whenever I have the conversation where I'm saying to someone else (or to myself), "No, that doesn't matter. That part's out of your control. You can only control you. Deal with what's in front of you," I remember walking up the slope of First Hill, from the Pike/Pine corridor, at 2:00 in the morning and talking to you about religion and cheesy new age philosophy.
Someday you and I will start a church. This much I know.
Will it feature these characters on a stained glass window?
Posted by: flamingbanjo at December 9, 2005 12:06 PMDidn't you lose your wallet a while ago? Maybe a year or two? Bad luck, but great advice with your mom.
Posted by: Lori D at December 12, 2005 02:15 PMHey, my computer just kicked it too. Sorry about your wallet. I could have used that advice when I was sweating buying a new one and then sweating (twice) about going home for a few holidays. Too late on the fretting about the trip though. I just booked. Thanks doll.
Posted by: nathaniel at December 12, 2005 08:35 PM