Ain’t that just the way it always is? You finally solve a problem after weeks or even longer of delay, but one little thing is still wrong. So what do you focus on? That one little thing, of course.
Yesterday morning the second set of carpet installers arrived and immediately showed that they knew what they were doing. I mentioned to the guy before I left that they needed to check all the thresholds, which he assured me he would do. Arriving home after a great morning of Bible study and fellowship, I allowed myself not one second of enjoyment before going to the kitchen threshold and checking to make sure it had been done.
It hadn’t.
In a flash, any joy I might have felt about finally getting this problem solved vanished in a cloud of irritation as I said to Jim, “Why on earth didn’t you/they check? Honestly!” I wanted to lean my head against the wall and howl.
Wasn’t that stupid?
Jim called the guy and he said, “Oh, I didn’t realize there was a kitchen threshold.” He’s going to swing by this coming week. And the original carpet company is probably going to give us some kind of refund on the added expense of calling in extra people. So what do I have to complain about? Not much.
A little dash of human and tolerance would have gone a long way here. Minimize the problem, even in this instance when the problem is so small to begin with. When I think of what we thought we were facing, with fighting with the original carpet company about taking up all the carpet and removing all the underlying flooring and worrying about damage, etc., etc., etc. and now having a completely reasonable and workable solution 95% done, well, there it is. The new carpet guy was so helpful and practical, saying, in essence, that we live in an imperfect world and that the ideal isn’t always attainable. It would have been better to start out with a completely clean and clear floor, but that option has pretty much gone by the wayside. I doubt that this carpet will stay in place for 40 years, so one day perhaps we (or someone) will achieve the Platonic ideal of the Clean Slate Floor. And those horrible grimy felt tiles that form the upper stratum of the geological layers? Well, I think they add to the overall padding effect. The floor feels very luxurious.
For now, then, we have nice new carpet that we really like. We can finally put up our window treatments, and place our furniture, and hang the TV. And the pictures. We can start feeling at home. (And now we’ll have no excuse for not keeping our area cleaned up.)
Perhaps I’d better quit talking about what we can do and start doing it. The guy is coming next week to make the template for the kitchen countertops, so I need to get things put away instead of doing what I’ve been doing for the past several weeks: standing there, staring around, poking at a few things, and then giving up. Attention must be paid, as somebody says in Death of a Salesman.
Do you have an imperfectly-solved problem that’s bugging you? Can it be solved, or should you just decide to live with it? Always a good idea to recognize the art of the possible!