Tuesday, February 21, 2006

"One Art"

Sometimes the fact that my life is held together by the most tenuous of threads weighs on me like a double layer of those x-ray-proof vests.

Today it was the podiatrist running and hour late and my mom forgetting to leave the door open for the babysitter that weighed me down; last week, it was the freezing rain and my accidental abscondsion of Dan’s car keys. In between there was a little of Shef’s ear pain and a pile of vanishing photocopies.

It’s days like this that Elizabeth Bishop echoes in my head: “Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.” None of those small things spell disaster.

“I don’t know how you do it,” a colleague of mine said last week, referring to my myriad identities and obligations.

“Oh,” I said, feeling a little uncomfortable, “the truth is I don’t, really.”

That truth was especially heavy today.

4 comments:

jdoc said...

You amaze me all the time. Really.

jm said...

I can barely take care of myself and you take care of your whole family while working and going to school. Hmmm. French girl book says something on this - it is anti-multi-task. What would happen if we all decided to stop multi-tasking?

LH said...

i really like that bishop line.
the hour badly spent.
that describes my dissertation work this morning to a tee.
see you tomorrow. yay.

KC said...

thanks for the kind words, friends.

i am feeling better except for the onset of a headcold. i plan to stop to get drugs and big fat latte on the way to work today. :)