by jphilo | Feb 12, 2015 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- Delight: When you step in the door to visit your kids and your grandchild runs to greet you, arms wide open, and asking, “Grammy Jo and Papoo! Want to play ‘Where are my toes?'”
- When I picked up Mom for her dentist appointment, she made it very clear she didn’t want to go…all the way to the car….all the way to the dentist’s office…and all the time we were there. When I said, “Well, I didn’t like going to the dentist when I was a child, but you took me anyway because you cared about me,” her response was, “That’s a whole different story.” Yes, I am officially parenting my parent.
- Hard on the heels of the Parenthood finale was the announcement that Downton Abbey will end after Season 6. So the search begins now for a good series or two to replace them. Fans of either show, what do you recommend?
by jphilo | Apr 27, 2009 | Daily Life
Not too long ago, my husband bought a pair of tennis shoes designed to pamper his size fourteen feet. These babies are so loaded with bells and whistles, they put every other shoe in the house to shame. I mean, how can a plain brown leather shoe, no matter how fine the leather or how comfy the arch support, compete with silver, white, yellow and blue aerodynamic shoes, complete with zig zag patterns, reflectors and two inches of tread?
Not too long ago, I went to the dentist and came home with a new toothbrush. The thing was a gargantuan, technological wonder – blue, yellow, and white with ergonomic curves, aerodynamic bristles attached to a base peppered with soft, mouth-friendly plastic doohickeys. It intimidated every other toothbrush in the bathroom and was so big it wouldn’t fit into the toothbrush holder.
At bedtime, I showed it to Hiram. “It kinda reminds me of your new tennis shoes.”
He nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Is it just me,” I wondered, “or has our bigger-is-better, complicated-is-better design mentality gotten out of hand?”
Over the next few days, several other examples of this mentality came to my attention. Two appliances, a big, new toaster and big, crock pot, barely fit into the appliance garage that, thirteen years ago, easily held my old toaster and crock pot, along with a knife holder.
When Mom gave up housekeeping, I brought a couple of her spatulas home. They quickly became my favorites, and Hiram’s, too. “They’re so much easier to handle,” he said. And he’s right. They’re smaller, much more convenient than the spatulas we’ve used for years, only because they were all that was available for purchase.
At this house, at least, we’d like to relinquish the bigger-is-better mantle. We’re ready for simpler, smaller, and fewer. But we have to figure out how to do it. Short of cutting off Hiram’s toes, I think the big tennis shoes are here to stay. But at my next dentist appointment I’ll ask for a smaller toothbrush. And next time the toaster or the TV or the washer or drier dies, I’ll try to downsize when we pick replacements.
Maybe, as a reminder, I should take along the monster toothbrush. But there’s a problem with that. It won’t fit in my purse.
