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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line." (Oscar Levant)

 

There are things, possessions, that are precious to me. Some are books (such a surprise). Some are decorative items. Some are randomly imbued with essential memories. Some make me feel safer, readier, luckier, when I have them with me. These are talismans. My Mum was proud to learn the initialism "EDC" … Every Day Carry. I've precious talismans safe at home, too. But my EDC talismans are ready with me, in pocket or purse. My CRKT (Columbia River Knife & Tool) Drifter folding pocket knife. My Kent Hand Made "Sawcut" pocket comb. One of my Lamy Safari retractable ballpoint pens (along with some extra-heavy stock index cards). A Coutale Sommelier French double-lever waiter's corkscrew. And, on my wrist, my Timex Marlin Automatic California-dial watch. These EDC talismans help me to be me. With them I feel ready for most situations, somehow. They reassure me. They're not cheap and disposable. Nor are they expensive and prestigious. They are practical and reliable. As I aspire to be. And they're good-looking. As I aspire to be? Not much I can do about that. Although I think I look better after a second glass of wine. 

 

My wife says we have too much stuff. I disagree. Having recently moved homes we did a fair amount of discussing and culling. What we have left? Exactly the right amount of stuff (until more or less is required). What's a tchotchke? I modestly-sized household item, something decorative rather than practical. A trinket. Indeed, the word tchotchke comes from the Slavic word for "trinket" via Yiddish usage. I identify most of our animal figures, displayed throughout our home, as tchotchkes. Some of our tchotchkes are talismanic. Some are merely cute and colorful. Some may seem a waste of space, but they carry personal meaning so with us they stay. I'm currently taken by the notion of exchanging cherished talismanic tchotchkes with close friends. Caring for them in our respective homes would be a reminder of our close relationships and shared lives. Or I could swap them for pickles, I suppose. That seems less personally satisfying. 

 

Merriam-Webster defines tickety-boo (British): FINE, OKAY "everything is going to be tickety-boo eventually" (A. J. Liebling). I would be most pleased were everything tickety-boo right now and all the time. The words "fine" and "okay" are inadequate, though, for tickety-boo is so much nicer than either. I think a life could be very well spent tickety-booing, for myself, my loved ones, my everyones. Yes, that's what I'm suggesting to you, me and you: Either accept life as tickety-boo or do whatever you can to make it so. Tickety-boo: "Such a dreamy, peaches and creamy day … a drunkard's dream if I ever did see one." Immediate apologies to Danny Kaye and The Band, unrelated artists (so far as I'm aware) but both tickety-boo to DAH. 

Everything is Tickety-boo … Danny Kaye in the movie Merry Andrew 

and/or

 

Encouragement to live now with love and courage, with urgency. Too many other books that offer similar advice distract with profiles, name-dropping, and checklists. This one is as if Bianca Sparacino sat down and wrote a long letter to her best friend, or herself. "We have to leap, even when our legs are shaking. We have to show up for ourselves -- not in 3 months, or 5 years, or 10 years, but now. In this moment. Because every single day is a blessing. Every day is a gift."

 

 

I Bend, by Selena Odom

 

I bend but do not break.

I've been lost, but I'm not a loser.

I'm a wreck, but I'm not totaled.

I'm fractured but not broken.

I've failed, but I'm not a failure.

I've fallen hard but can get up again.

I'm isolated, but still I'm free.

I have been destroyed but will rebuild.

My heart is broken, but it will mend.

See, no matter how close I come to breaking, I just continue to bend.

 

And that's all for this week.

From Mary Oliver’s poem Sometimes …  

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.