Flowers From My Father: Sometimes, the Tiara hurts my Head

One of the passions I have is

ANALOGIES

Okay, maybe it isn't as much of a passion as I'm just weird.

(And, I prefer to call it quirky, not weird.)

The truth is

I truly can't live through a single day without at least one analogy

oozing out of me.

Sometimes, it's even purposeful.

Sometimes, it's like finding coffee dribbled down my T-shirt (How'd THAT happen?)

But I admit, I really like it. Well, almost always.

I was tidying the house when I found the tiara.

The silver plastic one with the pink boa-style fringe along the front.

It was broken. One of the pointy parts up front that makes it tiara-like had been snapped off.

(I'd make some comment about the neighbor's kid, "Syd," destroying our toys for his own evil purposes, but there isn't a neighbor, or a "Syd," or much evil you can do with a partial tiara.)

So, efficient, yet wacky, woman that I am, I stuck the tiny glittering head-piece up

on the Royal Noggin.

I'd head toward another room soon enough (where said tiara should reside) and deposit it in that

Black Hole we call, Beth's Room.

Only, that wasn't my next stop.

Or maybe it was, and I'd already lost focus.

Regardless, I apparently had the tiara on for...

...awhile.

Cleaning done, I was at the dining room table, preparing to teach in Ch*na.

I started to get that feeling--you know, the, uh-maybe-I've-been-sitting-here-too-long feeling.

Maybe, I shouldn't have had caffeine at lunch. Did I? I don't think I did...

Uh-oh, the flu that's going around starts with an achy head.

It can't be an allergy headache. My nose isn't itchy. Wait! It is a little itchy!

I'll just get up and get some water. Yeah, I'm probably dehydrated.

But, I can't be dehydrated, I just had all that water with lunch.

Well, I can't finish China lessons with a head like this. I'll set this aside for later...

I rolled my head around to loosen up the muscles tensing in my neck and ran my hands through my hair.......

Awwwwww, the tiara.

Remove tiara. Rub temples. Roll eyes. Sigh with relief. Shake head.

A little something I picked up and added to "me" in my daily life

became a total distraction to what I ought to be/wanted to be doing.

Are you rolling with the analogy yet?

Whatcha' got tucked into your back pocket, or handbag, or up your sleeve...that seems innocent enough at first...but becomes something you had no idea was
going to steal time

to rob energy

to weaken friendships

to waste the seconds you've been given today?

(I immediately think of the example of reading blogs....sorry...)

"The Tiara that was used for Evil" (sans Syd!) could have been the title here.

But I'll remember this one a little longer:

Sometimes, the tiara hurts my head.