What’s the probability that one of the plastic hinges  that attached my toilet seat/lid to the toilet bowl breaks and then a little over a week later the plastic hinge that attached the toilet seat/lid in the other bathroom breaks? I guess I’m using the bathroom(s) a lot more, now that I’m semi-retired and spending all of my time here. But really, one right after the other? I’m hoping that the toilet seats/lids had been replaced at least once since they built this unit in 1982, maybe in 2006 when the previous owner bought the place. So I bought a wooden toilet seat/lid that was a bit more heavier-duty than the one it’s replacing. I guess now that I’ve re-enforced that connection we’ll see what gets stressed and breaks next. Alas, this whole thing is just a blatant metaphor about things wearing out and breaking and needing to be replaced. 

Sometimes the things wearing out are mundane like toilet seats and fluorescent bulbs, sometimes they’re more difficult to deal with things like losing or leaving a job or moving to a new city, and sometimes the things “wearing out” are irreplaceable, like the passing of friends and family. So much of my own journey has been shoulder-to-the-wheel, just keep moving forward daily grind, observe and learn but don’t dwell, that my current transition from over-worked classroom teacher to anxious writer feels a bit overwhelming. Maybe it’s not any more overwhelming than anything else that I’ve faced before, it’s just that I’m now taking the time to write about it and let myself feel the changes. Something as dumb as a broken toilet seat hinge can have cumulative effect, where I find myself what’s going to break next, which then eventually leads to thoughts about whether I want to maybe find a newer place, maybe smaller with less responsibilities… Ugh. This not how I’d like the begin the fourth week of my away from my old life living from class bell to class bell and then long hours cleaning up or prepping for the next day. How long do they say it takes to break old habit, two weeks, a month? I guess I’m no longer marking the passage of time based on 50-minute blocks of time allowed to instruction, but on whatever appliance or more personal item stops working. Great. Ye’ old toilet seats, I should have given you more consideration as you did your job, day-in-and-day-out. Thanks for all the safe-landings until, alas, you couldn’t hold on any longer. Hope you’re recycled into something that gets both of you the satisfaction and recognition that you deserve. Adios, my white plastic friends. 

Dear Reader, please feel free to share any stories of your own experiences of things wearing out or on the passing of my two white plastic buddies. Enjoy.