Dear Emily Stewart,
Thank you for helping your readers begin the year avoiding
the task of writing self-defeating (and self-defeated) resolutions.
Your example of the futility of vowing to get our home in order resonated
with me. Years ago I realized that if I
have 15 minutes to clean up a mess, I use the time instead to create another.
It's something I've put on my list of things I simply will
not give up or will never get around to doing.
I will not give up creating more
clutter. I will never get around to
cleaning up the clutter I create.
Right now, for example, instead of writing to you, I could
be cleaning up the mess of piles that seem to have merged, but instead of
eliminating the clutter, I'm writing an ode to it:
Ode to Squalor
dedicated to
Emily Stewart, author of "Resolutions Be Damned!"
I'd
pay to have more storage space for clutter--worth each dollar.
Instead
I teach me not to mind living in this squalor.
Stepping
over piles around is something I surmise
That
develops balance and also is weight-bearing exercise.
"Pretend
that you're normal. Pretend that you're
normal! Keep yourself at bay."
This
is the mantra I say to cope. (Life piles
are in my way.)
"It's
okay not to be normal," he says. "As long as you consider
The
comfort of friends who are"-- a thought that makes me kind of bitter.
I
look at this him, this son of mine, withdrawing the welcome mat.
"I
thought that I had chosen my friends a lot better than that."
Thanks
again, and happy, messy, self-indulgent New Year,
Tina
Martin
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