Hurdles

Sixty-six years into this life and I'm still trying to figure it out. What makes a day good, what makes a day bad? I think I may have a clue, at least for my own journey down this road.


I need hurdles to leap. Not real hurdles, for heaven's sake. That would spell "emergency room" shortly after the starting gun. I'm talking about self-imposed challenges, tasks that are at least daunting but preferably impossible. Give me a high hurdle of some kind and if I clear it, the day's bound to be a great one.


Today's hurdle, self imposed, was to personalize one of my little turned special stuff boxes for a friend who has invited us to her Christmas Eve smorgasbord for approximately the last thirty-six years. I've made boxes for our granddaughters, with their initials inlaid into the tops in slivers of pewter. I could have done the same thing with Tracy's special stuff box, but no, I decided that the box lid needed to be special.


Our friend Tracy is an artist, and we're fortunate to have several of her paintings on our walls. She signs her works with her initials, and I decided that the initials, in her own script, needed to be on the lid of her special stuff box.


Hmmm. How to put her signature on the box lid?  Simple. Take a close-up photo of the initials on one of her works, upload it to my PC, blow it up, print it, paste the print on the engraving machine, cut the grooves on the box lid, fit teeny strips of pewter into the grooves, sand the lid flat and finish the whole thing with lacquer.  


Yes, I blew a few hours jumping this hurdle but when it was done I felt like the day was a definite winner. A high hurdle cleared and a fitting gift for a good friend. I shall sleep well tonight.