Wrapped Around The Axle

We put up "Christmas" the other day, much to the delight/anguish of Baby Girl. Some stuff she is allowed to touch, some stuff is strictly off limits. Guess which things are more appealing? She claps with joy when we turn the Christmas lights on, and wails when we turn Christmas off.


There were some fallen soldiers in this year's installation of Christmas. A few wires fell off ornaments, a few random bits of glitter sprinkled the floor. So, being the dutiful wife that I am, I immediately vacuumed up the stray bits of cheer. I learned what an AMAZING noise one bit of wire can make when it gets wrapped around the bar of the vacuum. Good Times!


My original plan was to continue to chase the vacuum around until the room was all striped with cleanliness, but the racket caused by this little tiny wire was really quite distracting. So I turned it off, turned it over, and removed the offending bit of metal. All was well until I ran over another wire and had to repeat the process.


I'd quite forgotten about this whole episode until a few minutes ago. I've been wrestling with some spiritual questions for the last month or so, and continue to pester my fearless Dad for his perspective. In his latest message, Dad commented that he too has questions to ask God when the opportunity arises, but that he doesn't get so "wrapped around the axle" that he can't move forward. (He also mentioned going for a run and eating an apple, so we take what he says with a grain of salt.)


I immediately thought of the wire in the vacuum, wrapped around the axle and causing a huge commotion. I'm currently trying to sort out the cosmos while cooking a person, throwing off the shackles of religious dogma, and trying to figure out how to maintain some sort of identity whilst two children clamor for my attention. I've got fifty wires wrapped around my mental vacuum cleaner and the noise is truly astonishing.

It has been bothering me that I can't solve the problems I'm working on, and bogging me down in my daily shuffle. (It used to be a daily grind, but I go much slower now.) These lofty questions have gotten me wrapped around the axle, and I find myself getting stuck a few times a day.

Imagine a dog tied to a tree. Dog sees something interesting, walks over to investigate, and wraps another loop of leash around the tree. Dog walks over here, over there, sniff this, sniff that. Suddenly, Dog has three inches of leash left. How did this happen? Ruh roh, indeed.

The only solution is to sit down and stop winding, right? Flip the vacuum over or bark until someone comes to unclip the leash. I'm not sure I know how to do that right now, but it is nice to know that I'm not the only one.

Hey, that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?