Patterns.....

We buy clothing due to patterns… We put up wallpaper & border - and grow accustomed to the patterns… We learn our friendly way around town - knowing the shortest pattern to best motivate our way based upon $3.29 a GD gallon..

Seena email the other day… where there was a pattern of capital I’s - oh, mebbe twenty across, and then down damn near to eternity… All you saw was the same pattern… Somewhere hidden, there was the number 1 and you had to pick it out amongst the pattern.. And so on and so forth with similar letters, numbers.. We grew used to the pattern - and it was hard to distinguish the interruptions….

We become patterned to our work… our route to/fro… our weekly paycheck… same “hello’s”, “what’d ya do this weekend?” - the pattern of the actual work we do - where we put things on our desk (screw those of you who know me/work with me - it may not look like “order” but I know where every damn thing is there!

We sing in the car patterning ourselves after the singer on the radio - and are thankful we don’t car pool…

We become patterned in our families/relationships…

I’ve grown accustomed to her face…
She almost makes the day begin
I've grown accustomed to the tune she whistles night and noon
Her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs

Even though we don’t know whatinthehell to do once a crying infant comes from the womb - we soon become accustomed to this creature and it’s natural… the way… the pattern…

We go bonkers if life’s patterns are upset. “Whointhehell took my stapler and didn’t put it back on my desk?”… “SHIT! This wallpaper border is three inches short of finishing the GD project - I’ve gots to have my entire pattern!”…

“WHAT? She’d worked here twenty years and they told her when she drove up Monday at 8am - ‘Sorry…that’s it’ ?”… “My kid’s gone to college…. I’ve no one to watch over, to nurture, to feed.”…

“Hey Ralph?”… Yes Victor? “Seen my wife?”… Ahm.. Well-a.. and-a.. yes… she rode off on a Harley.”

Disruption of patterns happen. Sometimes we handle it well, sometimes we don’t. Stupid little stuff - like having an empty nest - always having the nice bar of soap in the soap holder in the tub --- having empty nest “re-filled”… jumping in the tub.. And the GD bar of soap is now by the sink… 7 feet away.

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See how disrupting that “1” is to the pattern? We wanna fix it.. Get it back to normal.. Restore order.. We become frustrated when life’s patterns change… It’s like we’ve got a nail in our shoe - we try to turn this way - can’t - try to turn that way - huh uh. Where do I go and how do I get there?

Then… after awhile.. That becomes pattern - and we’re accustomed once again.

Insteada painting fancy roller coasters all orange… they oughta paint different patterns for the ups.. And different patterns for the downs…

Momma always said the secret to success is how you deal with Plan B. You couldn’t make it in the Major Leagues as a pitcher if you couldn’t throw a curve.

We adjust. We grow - perhaps after some initial sinking. We either find our stapler or get another. We buy additional bars of soap so we can have one in the tub and one by the sink. Occasionally, we change the wallpaper. Patterns change, we adjust.

Life’s all about patterns and change. I don’t have pat answers - but I do dream of tomorrow’s patterns… I am thankful for past patterns.. I love to smile in today’s pattern.

Here’s wishin’ everyone the best of luck in ‘same’ and in ‘change.’ Whichever version we’re in - we’re all pretty fortunate.. Life is good. Loveya, Victurd.