Wednesday, February 5, 2014

It won't be long now








There are seven different colors of paint on my bedroom walls.  The downstairs bathroom has been halfway finished for two years now and we've been meaning to replace the broken light in the family room since I was in middle school.

A big part of me is worried that I will never even finish this blog post because I come from a noble tradition of beginners with a distinct knack for never finishing.

See, my daddy is a dreamer who is stuck behind a desk so that I can have a car to drive to work every day and my sister can spend 15 hours a week playing the cello.

My dad has a hundred apps that will never be built because by the time he gets home from work every day he is sick of coding.

He has a novel written in his head that will never live and breathe on the printed page because developing novels are a needy bunch and he already has six children to take care of.

But someday is always just around the corner and my dad has never stopped talking to me about his self-sufficient greenhouse, his ocean-front property with the private boat dock, or his lawn chair on the beach.

And despite the unfinished basement, I've never stopped believing in his plans.

Phyllis once called me the Believer and I never realized how true it was until she put it into words.

I believe in the future.

I do believe in miracles.

And even though it seems impossible, I honestly believe that one day we'll arrive and all of our dreams will begin to unfold and we'll finally catch up to our elusive green lights.

Phyllis and the Cardinal and Peyton and the Golden Girl will go out to lunch in quaint french cafes and my dad and I will sit on our lawn chairs and watch the waves.  My map of the world will fill to the brim with been-there-pins

and I'll finish this blog post.

7 comments:

  1. I'm a big fan of allusions and I'm a big fan of Gatsby. This post rocks.

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  2. "I'll finish this blog post" tied with the quote before about not finishing.. unreal. Idea = #stolen.

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  3. Everything you said about your dad, from the coding to the six children, is scarily accurate for mine. I liked this.

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  4. This is really powerful. I love your writing!

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  5. You are so great. I seriously mean that.

    I love how every conversation with you sounds like this. You are absolutely mind blowing and I don't know if I've ever told you that. It makes me wonder why I'm lucky enough to be the one who gets to listen to you and your brain working out beautiful things like this.

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  6. "But someday is always just around the corner"

    Dude.

    Oh, and this one:

    "And despite the unfinished basement, I've never stopped believing in his plans."

    I hope we all catch up to those green lights. Great post.

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  7. "...developing novels are a needy bunch and he already has six children to take care of."

    Really nice.

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