Big, Fun Change

I am walking by my neighbor's house when I notice the contractor. His truck is parked in front of the garage, and he is standing with his clipboard in hand, evidently adding up the costs. The costs for what? According to his truck and his focus, the costs for new exterior paint for the neighbor's yellow and brown trim residence. I don't mean to be nosy, but change is easy to recognise.

I note all this data in a single second, and I walk on with my life wondering what color the neighbor will choose to recolor her life. Pink? Lilac? Tan? White? The possibilities are delicious.

A few weeks later I am again walking by the the neighbor's house. The garage is all masked up and the contractor looks like he is close to completing the job. But what is surprising to me is that the garage looks just the same as before - yellow with brown trim - just a little fresher. All the color choices in the world, and the neighbor choose to keep her color life in a holding pattern. Granted this particular neighbor must be in her eighties and I hear it is gets harder and harder to make change the older we get. But still, this isn't like a change like moving into a retirement home, this is a change, like let's see how my house looks when it is orange. Just fun change. Isn't it fun change?

Our day started today with Geoff making eggs, as usual. "Christa, where is the butter spread?"

"I stopped buying it, because it's not REAL food."

"It's made from vegetable oil."

"It's made in a laboratory. It doesn't come from a cow."

"I don't want to eat all the cholesterol in butter. You don't want me to die of a heart attack, do you?"

"You are using your butter for toast to eat with your Eggs Benedict. Maybe if you're worried about cholesterol, you should eat a different kind of egg? Besides, the new idea is that cholesterol has nothing to do with your heart."

"Christa, you are always imposing your ideas on the rest of us. Can't you just buy the butter spread for me and my toast?"

He is right. The purchaser does get to make the purchasing choices. And you know what? I like to make changes. So Geoff is often wondering what happened to his stereo system that I dismantled with the intention of using the computer, and his reading light that I deemed too ugly, and wondering why we have no butter spread. The shock of it all is compounded by the fact that he doesn't hear well, so even though I warn him of these changes, I am certain he never really notes them until something appears amiss.

Geoff does not like change. Perhaps it's because he is not the one making the choices.

Do we even realize that we have choices? With our every purchase, with our attention and time, with our fabrication of life, the choice is ours. We can do or buy the typical, or we can think through what is good for us, makes us happy, makes our life richer. Sometimes it is easier just to take the kids on a packaged trip to Disney World with Mickey Mouse. But maybe it might be more of an experience to camp in the middle of a National Forest with the bugs and the bears.

Recently my friend began to plan a new interior railing redesign for her new home. She showed me a quick sketch of what she had in mind. The sketch and idea was fine. But my husband is a metal worker, and I have seen the possibilities in metal work. There is awe inspiring European metal design that we never have seen in middle American. So I loaned her some books. After looking at the books she came back to me and said," You're right. There are so many choices. Why does everyone manufacture the same ten styles?"

Our forefathers fought for choice. Let's make some informed choices!

And having written all this, I now take a sip of my Earl Grey Tea. Because there are some things that you just don't ever change.