It's all about perspective

I like to read blogs, and recently I came across a blog post by Jenny Lawson "The bloggess".    She is a successful American writer, and hilariously funny. The one post that had me in stitches though, also struck a chord on a personal note.

The post "And that's why you should learn to pick your battles"  is about how she was going shopping, and her husband, Victor, tells her she had better not buy more towels. So she doesn't. She buys a $100, 5 foot tall (hideously ugly) metal chicken. Victor is not impressed. But she didn't buy towels, so he really shouldn't complain. 

Part of Jenny's (and her friend Laura's) justification for buying the chicken (which they called Beyonce) goes thusly:

"me (Jenny):  ... And when our friends are sad we can leave him at their front door to cheer them up.
Laura:  Exactly. It’ll be like, “You thought *yesterday* was bad?  Well, now you have a enormous metal chicken to deal with.  Perspective.  Now you have it.”"  


After I had wiped away the tears of laughter, I decided that I too needed a hideously ugly chicken, for those days when I needed a bit of perspective. Because I know that there is always someone worse off than me. Yes I understand, for a few days there while my brain was happily swelling away, things were pretty bad. And having a brain tumour is pretty sucky, even if it is benign. But I also had a moment when I was waiting for my MRI (I was parked in the emergency room). A family was also waiting with their little boy, and I gathered this wasn't their first MRI or trip to the ER. Perspective.

While we were up home for Easter, I remembered that Dad had received some knick knacks and ornaments as his inheritance from when Grandma passed away. Amongst this was a glass rooster. Ever since it had arrived, Mum had bemoaned this rooster, and how ugly it was. It had languished away in the back of the cupboard for years; and I was going to claim it.

I called him Albert (being a Rooster and all). He came up alright after a quick clean, was carefully transported home, and is now sitting on my buffet. I did briefly wonder if he was worth anything. Without knowing the provenance of the glass (no markings) the best I can hope for, after a quick google search, is that he is made of Murano glass, and that he might be worth about $30 on ebay. Priceless.

So when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, I just have to look at Albert for a bit of perspective. Because there is nothing like having an ugly glass rooster staring back at you to remind you that things can only get better. Plus he makes me smile, just a little. Maybe he isn't that ugly after all.