(To listen to Lori read the story click)here

 

 

There is an interesting book called Flat Stanley. In it he is pulverized by a bulletin board and becomes two dimensional. I have read it to my children for years and no one ever doubted the authenticity of the plot.

 

I notice that sometimes my vision erodes to two dimensions. Problems have only two solutions and often neither is appealing. 

 

John tries to elevate my thinking, so that I can watch from a higher vantage point. When I wobble like one of those magnetic toys between opposing poles, he breaks the spell and gets me to try a new perch. For instance if I am feeling irritated with a friend and can only find dual possible paths, ignore her or stay stuck, he reminds me to look for a third. It is helpful, and annoying. Sometimes I want to stay stuck.

 

For a while our family was at an impasse on the dishwasher debacle. Everyone wanted them to come out cleaner and I wanted people to help rinse them. The two choices looked like:

 

1. Mom does all the rinsing and the filling and the emptying or

2. Everyone rinses their own dishes and puts them in the dishwasher

 

I refused to do #1 and they refused to do #2 so we kept on with the slightly-grimy-dishes-communal-complaining- mom-is-resentful merry go round. Then John started washing dishes by hand. The appliance went on a sabbatical and we morphed into a new routine of wash as you go. He actually did the bulk of the wet work, and they certainly came out sparkling. When we went back to using the dishwasher, all of us were more willing to give, and the problem dissolved. 

 

I suppose Stanley enjoyed his life as a flat kid. But he did seem pretty excited when his brother figured out how to inflate him with a bicycle pump. And I guess being stuck is not where I want to stay either.