in my email this morning

"Life must be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."
-Soren Kierkegaard

I'm not often a big fan of quotes out of context, but I like Kierkegaard in general and this snippet hit the spot this morning. Sorry about the lack of promised pictures- they're coming, along with long stories about weddings and sermons, uncles and sisters, bridges and waterfalls. Eventually.

Right now, though, I'm stretched in a bad spot between overtired and overbusy. My apartment is a mess from packing and unpacking and rearranging furniture and Christine taking the last of her stuff, and I can't decide which part of the mess to tackle first. Perhaps ironically, my emotional life looks about the same; several messes, and I can't seem to prioritize them into a cleaning order.

It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.
-My buddy Soren, again.

And, as with my apartment, I focus on the issues that I can do the least about. My clothes are lying in piles, on suitcases and chairs, and I'm wondering if I should paint the walls, or maybe ask the landlady about getting a cat, when what I really need to do is find a dresser. Or maybe not- if I cleaned out the shelves, I might be able to fit my clothes in there. But where would the stuff from the shelves go? In the closet, I suppose, which is also a mess.

I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both.
-the Kierke-dog

Too much debris, I guess, but it's hard to let it go, particularly when it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with having it. I need blue jeans and I need friends, but they're both a bother to maintain. I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn't really want to be without either... but attachment is such a mess, and nonattachment isn't much better.

Listen to the cry of a woman in labor at the hour of giving birth - look at the dying man's struggle at his last extremity, and then tell me whether something that begins and ends thus could be intended for enjoyment.
-Soren the cranky Lutheran

Thanks for the encouragement, Kierkegaard.