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The Door Handle, The Roof Creature And The Stitches She Did Not Get
This is Fruitycake.
I would like to begin today’s blog by saying that Girl Person probably needed stitches. She did not get stitches. This distinction is important because Girl Person managed to run her arm into a door handle hard enough to cut it open, and after examining the situation, the persons agreed that stitches probably would have been a very good idea. Normally, this is the point where you go somewhere and have a medical person sew you back together. Except there was something on the roof. A big something. Or possibly a small something wearing extremely heavy shoes. We don’t know.
It had been up there making noises that no creature with reasonable manners should make on somebody else’s roof. THUMP. THUMP THUMP. SCRATCH. And this is where the story becomes a little difficult to explain to normal people. Girl Person was standing there with an arm that probably needed stitches, but getting stitches meant leaving this rustico, walking down the mountain and going somewhere for medical attention while an unidentified creature was apparently using our roof as a trampoline. She was scared to leave with whatever it was still up there. So Girl Person did what apparently passes for a medical plan around here: she cleaned it, put more bandages on it and stayed home with the roof monster.
However, I have been reviewing the evidence, and I am not entirely convinced these two incidents are unrelated. Girl Person says she was going through the doorway when somehow the door moved and the handle caught her arm. Somehow. And who, exactly, had been stomping around the premises? Roof Creature. I’m not accusing anyone without evidence, but I think we have to at least consider the possibility that Roof Creature came down, shut the door at precisely the wrong moment, injured Girl Person and then returned to the roof to observe the consequences. Boy Person says this is ridiculous. Boy Person has also failed to identify Roof Creature, so I’m not sure why he has been appointed lead investigator.
My theories currently include a ghiro who has spent the summer lifting weights, a giant cat, a wild boar with advanced climbing abilities or an animal previously unknown to science that has chosen this Portofino place to make its scientific debut. Whatever it is, every time we think it has gone, there is another thump. Then all three of us look at the ceiling as if the ceiling might finally decide to explain itself. It does not. The ceiling is clearly withholding information.
Meanwhile, Girl Person is trying very hard to stay positive, and I think that’s actually the hardest part of this whole story. Persons sometimes act as though being positive means saying everything is fine when everything is very obviously not fine. Your arm hurts. You’re tired. You’re worried. You probably should have gotten stitches. There is an unidentified mammal—or possibly a very athletic dinosaur—above your head, and you would really like your house to stop participating in attempts to injure you. You can be grateful and still admit that you have had enough for one day.
Which brings me to September 15 and today’s affirmation: Say What You Mean, But Only With Kindness. And remember, this one has to be said out loud with me. Ready? “I will say what I mean, but only with kindness. My truth does not need sharp edges to be strong. I will speak clearly and listen with the same respect I hope to receive. Kindness and honesty can live in the same sentence.” There. We said it. And I immediately realized that I have several things I would like to say to the door, Roof Creature and possibly the entire month of September, so this affirmation arrived at an interesting time.
But maybe that is exactly the point. Saying what you mean with kindness doesn’t mean pretending something doesn’t hurt. Girl Person can say, “My arm hurts. I’m scared. I’m tired. I really didn’t need one more thing.” None of those sentences are negative. They’re true. Your truth doesn’t need sharp edges to be strong, but it also doesn’t need to be covered in sugar and called something it isn’t. Staying positive doesn’t require lying to yourself. You can tell the truth about a hard day and still believe tomorrow can be better. You can be frustrated without becoming cruel. You can be scared without giving up. And you can speak to yourself with the same kindness you would give somebody else who was standing there bandaged, overwhelmed and wondering what else could possibly happen.
So I will say what I mean today. I wish Girl Person hadn’t gotten hurt. I wish she could have gotten the stitches she probably needed without being afraid to leave. I wish we knew what was jumping around on our roof. I wish there were fewer bandages around here lately. But I am also very glad that after another day that absolutely did not go according to plan, the three of us are still sitting here together underneath that roof. Maybe positivity isn’t looking at a terrible day and calling it wonderful. Maybe it’s looking at a terrible day and saying, “That was hard. And I’m still going to believe something good can happen tomorrow.”
That’s the truth. No sharp edges required. Although I am reserving one exception to today’s affirmation because there is still an active investigation happening around here: Dear Roof Creature, kindly explain where you were at the exact moment that door moved.
I’ll be waiting.
Fruitycake
P.S. While Girl Person is adding yet another bandage to the collection, we are also launching something very important: THIS IS ME, our new project to help real shelter and rescue animals stay visible in an online world increasingly filled with AI animals, stolen pictures and made-up stories. We’re going to work to verify real animals, tell their real stories and introduce them to the millions of people we reach online. This is going to take even more time, research and resources, so if you believe in what we’re building, we really need you beside us right now.
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