I’d like for you to take a moment and close your eyes. Okay, finish reading this paragraph first, and then close your eyes. I want you to imagine a piece of furniture or an accessory that you’ve always wanted but don’t have for some reason.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
So, what was the item that you thought about? Was it a new turquoise sofa? A fabulous piece of art? A bed with a tufted headboard?
For the longest time, the item that popped in my mind when I dreamed of new accessories was a vintage cuckoo clock. I spent hours searching local vintage shops and online stores trying to find the perfect clock. I wanted it to be vibrant and have a lot of personality. I wanted little dancing people. And most importantly, I wanted the little cuckoo to pop out of his door and tell me the time.
One day not long ago, I happened upon my dream cuckoo clock on Etsy. It was a great price and in working order. Sold!
I had never owned a cuckoo clock before, so I couldn’t wait to get it up on the wall once it arrived. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
I had no idea what was in store with my new/old friend. I didn’t realize that the chains were quite so long, so I had to hang it about eight feet off the ground to keep Emma from touching it. I had no idea that it was such a beast to set, so I spent lots of time up on a ladder advancing the hands to the right time. I didn’t actually know that I had to wind the dang thing every day. There was no way to turn it off at night, so we spent a few nights waking at every hour (and half hour). And for some reason, that little cuckoo would sometimes chime 13 times at 2 o’clock and once at 7 o’clock. I finally got fed up and stopped it’s pendulum.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It still hangs on my wall (in a new location that’s not quite so high), and I worship the ground wall it hangs on. It just doesn’t keep time. Or chime. Or tick tock.
After all of that time I spent longing for a cuckoo clock, I felt kind of let down by the realization of my dream. As much as I love my clock, it turned out to be a lot less fun than the dream of owning it.
Perhaps, there are some things that we need to keep imagining instead of rushing to embrace. Part of the excitement of DIY and adding fun pieces to my home is the hope and promise of things to come. Once they come to fruition, or as I’m in the process of DIYing them into fruition, my mind quickly moves on to the next piece. Maybe the dream of a cuckoo clock is better than the clock itself. I think the clock has taught me a valuable lesson on not always getting exactly what I want.
Have you ever had that happen?
