All's right with the world

Sometimes insights come from the most unlikely sources. My front bathroom, for instance. Normally, it really gets me down. It's embarrassing. It is one of the many sad stories of being a contractor's wife. The ceiling has a hole a small pony could fit through that has been "repaired" with duct tape, the flooring is ancient vinyl, and the toilet is so old it can no longer flush itself and needs a large pitcherful of water poured down it every time it's used. We call it the Beverly Hillbillies' bathroom, and "Pa" won't fix it because of the damn-domino-dilemma. The real problem is the fancy lifetime tile roof that wasn't installed properly is 30 years old and now leaks, which causes the hole in the sheetrock ceiling, which cannot be repaired until the roof is replaced, or it will just happen again, and the roof can't be replaced because it is $50,000+. It would be silly to replace the toilet without replacing the flooring, and since the tub and surround also need replacing we really can't do it until we're ready to do the full bathroom remodel, which we probably could afford, but can't do because the hole in the ceiling... because the roof...damn-domino-dilemma. The amount of angst this bathroom has provided me, added to a myriad of other negative thoughts, has sometimes bordered on depression. But the other day, the bathroom made me smile. It turns out that the amount of time the bath water needs to run before it is hot enough for a shower equates exactly to the amount of water needed to fill the large pitcher we have to use to flush the toilet. I love that. I love to see symmetry in action, the beauty of balance makes me feel that all is right with the world. Symmetry is very important to me. It is the beauty of form arising from balanced proportions. It is the property of remaining invariant under certain change. Even in my broken bathroom, there is symmetry. The bathroom isn't really broken, it just works in a different and unique way, and actually that is really okay with me, it's what I want in life. I want a life that works for me, that's true to what is important to me. Truthfully, the only reason I care about the bathroom and the hole and the toilet is because of what someone else might think of it. I've wasted so much happiness worrying about what other people think. It's really time to channel that energy into manifesting an authentic life. Symmetry, authenticity, integrity, all found in the one crazy bathroom. MK