For the first 50 years of my life, my perfectionist self mistakenly believed it was all about knowing more, getting it right, planning, attempting to prevent bad things from happening, and keeping all of my chicks in a row. It took me this long to discover that the JOURNEY is all that matters. This quote from Gilda Radner sums it all up:

"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
"


Thursday, March 26, 2015

Repair or Replace

What makes us repair some things and replace others?

Nothing stays the same forever.  With the passage of time, they wear down or wear out.  They break.  They might not make us happy anymore.  They don't fit.  They lack the attraction they once had.  We change.  We just don't have the energy or desire to repair them.  Sometimes they can't be repaired.

For the past 2 days,  I've put a lot of time and effort into repairing this area rug.  It's 5 years old and I really love the colors and pattern.


But with normal wear and tear,  and a few cats sharpening their claws on it,  it doesn't look like new anymore.



I've been restoring it, little by little.


First I vacuumed the pet hair as much as possible.


With the help of a small crochet hook, I pulled to fibers through the backing of the rug.


Pieces that were too small to pull through had to be cut.


The rug still had a fuzziness to it that I didn't like.


I used a cutting tool to zip the fuzz away.


I'm not done yet, but the portions I've worked on look like new!


Repair or replace?

We are faced with this choice constantly throughout our lives.

In this disposable society that we live in,  it's often easier to replace. Most children are not taught how to mend their clothes or toys - replacements come easily. Technology changes so quickly that it doesn't make sense to keep an older model that lacks the newest features. 

So when faced with a relationship, a job, a task, or even a life that's difficult, people aren't practiced in the art of mending.  They often quit instead.

The hardest part is knowing when something is valuable enough to fix and when it doesn't make sense to hold onto it anymore.

"The only way to make a spoilt machine work again is to break it down, work on it's inner system and fix it again.  Screw out the bolts of your life, examine and work on yourself, fix your life again and get going." 
                          ~Israelmore Ayivor 


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