My husband usually plans house projects in the winter, expecting to do them in the spring so come summer our family can enjoy them (like this deck). But spring beguiles, and summer is precious. This year, he roasted in the late-August sun, unsuccessfully trying to “do the deck” before winter.
Some projects do get completed on time, and I’m grateful when they do. I’ve heard Ernest Hemingway was at his most depressed when he’d finished a novel. I understand: it’s the loss of the challenge and the unknown answer to the question: “What next?”
The solitude of the writer’s life can be like that, but it’s not so on a work team, or with a family. The answer to “What’s next?” is “Plenty—check the calendar.”
There’s a Hopi proverb that says “One finger can’t lift a pebble.” My work team has lifted a few boulders in 2010 (and so has my family), but I’m sure we’ll leave a few incomplete. The New Year wouldn’t be the same without the challenge of some unfinished projects.
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