pinch

I have been listening to Elbow's 'The Seldom Seen Kid' album over and over. I wasn't until lately an album person at all--I was an artist person, or more likely, a single song person. I choose to see this as a sign of growth. Getting more than just one flavor in the bites I take. But it's all ice cream.
Every so often I get discouraged about a future that doesn't have a discernible outline. I can look at an upcoming month and groan at the prospect of the same, all over again. The same mattress with the springs poking through, the same old blue bike along the same worn streets. The same office, the same patterns of movement through my day, the same catching-of-breath the minute I'm back home. The same measured bits of friendship and activity in the evenings and on the weekends. The same couch with the same lamp and the same stack of books I still haven't finished. I catch myself right about there. I'm being a fool. This is a good life, it is! There are problems, and there are strangers living in my basement, and there are things about me that I haven't figured out how to fix yet, but my life is very sweet. And after I'm thankful again, the stasis shifts anyway. New faces pop up, old faces look at me differently. I still am surprised! I make plans to spend a weekend hiking and sharing someone else's family. And I work out hitching a nine hour ride to visit someone I really love, and I talk about camping trips and museums and the new Harry Potter movie, and well hell, I'm going to be just, just fine.