Time Spent

I spent a couple of hours last night rearranging the furniture in the family room in anticipation of the coming cold weather. I moved our chairs near the wood stove and moved out some of the other fixtures. A bit of sweat, a lot of groaning, and it almost looked like a new room. My old dog sat at my feet after I was done and looked at me as if to say, “Well, that was interesting….”

Today is an anniversary of sorts. On this day, way back in the Seventies, I boarded a jet for my first airplane ride and streaked out west to stand on the yellow footprints and begin the arduous season of destruction and reassembly that culminated in my earning the title “United States Marine.” I look at the old photos and think, “Did I really do that? Was I really able to do those things? Was I really that young and strong and naive? And did I really have such dreams, and was I really so sure about so many things?”

It never turns out how we think it will. But this can be a good thing, too. I look at the joyous aspects of my life today and I would never have been able to predict such happiness when I was sitting on that plane with a nuclear reactor of nerves in my belly. It never turns out how we think it will. Or perhaps I am being presumptuous. Perhaps I should say it never turns out how I think it will.

It’s funny how moving around a few rugs and a few chairs and a few plants can make a room look newer and cozier. The light coming in the window makes a difference, too.

~ S.K. Orr