Striving for perfect

Perfect: complete in all respects; without defect or omission; sound; flawless; in a condition of complete excellence.

Perfection: the act or process of perfection; the quality or condition of being perfect; a person or thing that is the perfect embodiment of some quality.

Perfect I'm not.

But that doesn't mean I don't want people and things in my life to be perfect.

Take marriage.

Harry and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary last Saturday. He did every thing perfect.

I received a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses AND a gorgeous Liztec pin! Our day started with a delicious breakfast at the Albright Mansion in Jim Thorpe followed by a lovely leisurely train ride. We did some shopping, had a great dinner and ended the evening playing a new game we just learned, Farkle.

But let's face it. Not every day of marriage can be so perfect. Life has a way of throwing curve balls that mess up our routines.

Like the morning you wake up and find your dishwasher full of little teeny tiny ants and of course no matter what you do, they seem to be winning the war. It helps to have a husband, who is a great handy man. But taking it all apart and leaving you dishwasher-less for two weeks, well, let's just say, life was not so perfect.

Take friendship.

My friends and I are experiencing a phenomenon and we're dropping like flies. We're all celebrating our 60th birthdays this year. One by one we're going to birthday parties to celebrate these auspicious occasions. First it was Sandy who celebrated the day with family and friends. Then it was Sharon and another party. She bought herself a Mustang convertible. (You go Girl!) Her husband Bill had the biggest pink bow I ever saw made for it. Too cool!

Last week it was Dora. Her family threw her a surprise birthday party and she seemed genuinely surprised.

Dora has been a life-long friend. Although she has tried to lead me down the proverbial garden path over the years, I still value her friendship.

I remember when she told me in first grade that if I didn't fold my toilet paper perfectly, the little man in the toilet wouldn't accept it and make the toilet overflow. I believed her. To this day, I take the time and fold my toilet paper just right. God forbid I should make the little man mad at me!

Dora is the only person I know who could make little girls, and now grown women, pee in their pants. A true art. She has a way of making everything a laugh fest! She can take the most mundane thing or thought and turn it into the funniest thing you ever heard. If you're depressed before meeting up with her, I guarantee you won't be when you leave. Usually after one of our get-togethers, my stomach and mouth hurts from laughing so much!

Paulette is next followed by Connie and Devoe. I'm last. The baby.

I have been blessed with perfect friends.

Take health.

I just left my eye doctor's office for my first checkup since my second cataract surgery on Monday. This time my vision is a little cloudy. The first one was so great that I'm bummed this second one isn't the same. After venting my concerns and frustrations with the doctor, he said something that got me to thinking. He said that we want everything to be perfect in our lives but nothing can ever be perfect and we shouldn't set our selves up because we'll only be disappointed. He advised me to be more patient and everything will be fine. But it will take time.

Boy. He's so right. We're a society of people who expect instant gratification.

I turn on my television and have an instant picture. I turn on my computer at work and everything is instant. We have cell phones and we don't have to wait until we get home to make a call. Microwaves cut heating up food to seconds.

So I have eye surgery and I think everything should be better immediately.

You've all heard the saying, "When you have your health you have everything."

So true. You especially understand that when you have a health issue. And when we don't bounce back to "normal" yesterday, we become impatient. We want to feel "perfect" as quickly as we can.

While I had a perfect anniversary, let's face it, no marriage can ever be perfect. It takes a lot of patience, compromising and work to make it a good strong marriage and we should rejoice in the moments we rate as "perfect."

Friendships aren't perfect. Sometimes we may get annoyed or hurt with each other. But true friends stick by us in good times and bad times. Friends are like dessert. You have the main meal which is your family, job and home. Then you have dessert, the fun, sweet and tasty part of life.

As I left my eye doctor, I realized whether it's eyesight, marriage or friendship, perfection may never happen. But it shouldn't prevent me from striving for it and appreciate all the gifts I have in my life.

Gosh. I hate it when I get all philosophical. The bottom line is, I want everything to be perfect and it's hard to accept when everything isn't.

I think that's human nature.

I also think it's what keeps me getting up in the morning and putting one foot in front of the other. I never know what the new day will bring. Perfect would be nice.

But as my daughter would say, "Good luck with that."