Friday, April 30, 2010

Pop! Goes Perfection

I hated this game when I was a kid. Also, fair warning: I am about to get all metaphorical life lesson on you. Fuck, I might even mention spirituality and the Navajo people. You have to be quick 'cause here's how it goes, pop! Here goes nothing: I feel as if I have always just pressed down on the game board. I can hear those little pieces rattling, the manic tictictictic as I search for the asterisk plastic pentagram thing. Just looking at this picture gives me agita.And the urge to fall asleep. I am tired. I cannot do it all. Yesterday on the bus I snored myself awake. When I opened my eyes there was a woman staring at me. She was carrying a plastic bag holding an entire unwrapped raw plucked chicken, and I was the weird one. I think of my dad who told me about Navajo rugs, how they each have an imperfection purposefully woven into the corner so that the Spirit can move in and out. I think of Leonard Cohen singing that there is a crack in everything which is how the light gets in. I think of the zit on my chin that will not go away, but I am pretty sure that is not God.

Of course the game would be no fun at all if it gave you 60 minutes rather than 60 seconds, too much time to put everything in its place. The thrill is in the pop, the fuck up, the crack, losing. Perfection not found in its place but in the space where something else ought to be.

Fortune cookie shit, I know. A long rambling diatribe baked inside a Pillsbury crescent roll buttered shiny. (On the back: your lucky numbers are 17, 43, 4, 60 and 26. If you win with those numbers please refer to my donate button, thankyouverymuch).

All this on a Friday.
I think I might get Zoey that game, only I will take away the plastic plus sign and place it in a box along with a lock of baby hair and her milk teeth.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

ive been reading for a while now, but just decided to comment. i have no idea what you're talking about most of the time, and i think you're absolutely hilarious all of the time. your daughter is gorgeous and the love you have for her is admirable. what a wonderful mother you are. great blogger, too =)

Pieces of a Sometime Extraordinary Life said...

OMG, I remember the stress of that game. After it popped I'd re-place all the popped pieces in the board without resetting it, just for a sense of completion and fulfillment. That must say something about my personality.

Imperfections ARE God, by the way. The little things that make us different, like my daughter's beautiful lopsided ear, and the way I snort when I laugh. Imperfectly perfect.

essbesee said...

something's going on in the bloggysphere lately. a lot of contemplation, myself included. I hate that game too. still do. and operation. but will not cheese out here and say i love the game of life. i'm more of a password gal myself.

Michelle M in KY said...

OH SUSANNAH...
Again...I am right here with you. I've been thinking about this so very much lately.
Everything seems to have sped up...lightning speed actually. I do not think that we are truly programmed to keep up. At least I'm not because I just want to slow it ALL down. Reset the timer button for another 20 minutes of just being...but there's never time for that. The endless, fast paced rat race that we can life, continues on...mulling us over if we do not move out of the hammer lane and to the far right slow lane.
I think there comes a time that we have to CHOOSE. Maybe things will continue at their manic pace, but we can choose which things to participate in, give our time to, our love too, our stresses to. This is the great balancing act...that we...especially Mothers cannot seem to tackle. We want to do it all, be all, be there for it all, and yet we also NEED to take care of ourselves. But when is what I always ask? When? I cannot administer advice to you when I'm alongside you in this marathon...but I am willing to pin your number on the back of your Nike running shirt, give you a Dixie cup full of water at the midpoint and a thumbs up that you're running at a good pace and that you just need to hold steady momentum so that you can make it across the finish line. What happens when we reach the finish? That my girl...I do not know...perhaps the game should have been called Patience instead of Perfection.

laura said...

holy moly, i am eating a pillsbury crescent roll AS I READ THIS.

i really am.

weird.

xoxo,
laura

Petunia Face said...

Livingoneday-rest assured, I have no idea what I'm talking about most of the time either. :)

Laura--if you were eating a Pillsbury crescent roll as you were reading this then I am pretty sure you should go out and play the lottery with the numbers I provided. If you win and are feeling generous, I would like my own personal masseuse to follow me around for the rest of my life, mkay?

Happy weekend friends.
xo,
S

ZDub said...

I love that freaking game.

I bought it a few years ago for Zoe and I didn't explain it to her before the first time we played it. When it POPPED all the pieces out and up, she burst into tears.

Eff that stupid game.

P.S. I misplaced Zoe's baby teeth during our last move. And that makes me almost burst into tears.

Sarah Von Bargen said...

The picture of that cat made me choke on my coffee!

I just wanted to pop over and thank you for entering the giveaway for my Karma Cards on the Daddy Likey blog! We've got a few sets left if you're still keen (cough, shameless self-promotion, cough) ;)

Maggie May said...

that cat is WRONG.

A Perfect Gray said...

I am stressing right now over something I am trying to get perfect...so thanks for the post - it - worked wonders...

I had the Perfection game as a child - my mom bought my son one - he's now 15. I found a stray piece from the game years ago - the star shaped one - and kept it to put back with the game which was tucked in the attic. or so I thought...after a cleaning there, the game was not to be found...guess it went to the church yard sale - then on to an unsuspecting kid who now probably has a tic 'cause he can't find all the pieces...

Acanthus and Acorn said...

I am laughing so hard...I almost spit my coffee on the keyboard...and the picture of the freaky little elf man below only added to it!!!

Hope you and Zoey have fun with "Perfection"!!!