Key change

The remodel project has obviously taken up most of my time for the last few weeks. It is hard, physical work with occasional bouts of focused problem solving. We tug and move and haul things around and then spend 10 minutes discussing the problems: how DO we build solid partition walls under these conditions or secure that much plywood in this little truck so that we can get back from Home Depot or create an arch that can be plastered or...? But we are finally starting to see an actual room now - even without the new floor in yet - and probably only have 2 more weeks to a fully livable space.

Despite the fact that the remodel is so involving, there are other events and activities happening even in our little corner of the world. And last night brought me one of my favorite types of experiences - a true, head-tilting, brain modifying, big key change perspective shift.

As you can tell, I really love perspective shift moments. I suspect that is just part of my Edens heritage. Although the official motto on the Edens crest is "If there be prudence" (we don't know what that really means, either) the de facto motto, that Baba was given many years ago now, is "We see things differently". Because that has always been such a strong identity trait for me, moments or events that highlight a "different seeing" for me get stored away as small memory treats or treasures. Sometimes I just spread them out on the table to look at the twinkle. And last night will definitely be added to that hoard.

Last night, HTH and I attended the first benefit where our company was a corporate sponsor. I'm not sure if reading that makes your head tilt - like mine does when something doesn't make sense - or your nose wrinkle - like my friend CRS in the same circumstance. Most people have some physical reaction to moments when they hear something that doesn't quite fit with their world view. But, world views aside, it actually happened.

Limbs for Kids is a Phoenix based charity that started because the now-President saw a kid envy his brothers running around a mall play area while he sat in a wheel chair. Paul went home and started figuring out how to get prosthetic limbs to the kids who couldn't afford to get them otherwise. He is even currently matching all donations, dollar for dollar, from his personal funds.

The charity's VP/Treasurer is one of our regular business contacts, and the cause is clearly a good one, so when he asked us to sponsor a table for their Casino Night, we were happy to do so. We were not, I have to admit, as happy about the thought of attending Casino Night. But we did. We took the chips that our tickets provided us and walked around to find the table we sponsored and then we settled in to play. It seemed logical and I didn't think much of it until the table workers found out that we were the business owners that sponsored the table. The looks on their faces reminded me of what I used to think when I heard the words "corporate sponsor" and how HTH and I are CLEARLY NOT THAT! But, as the sign on the table reminded us, we actually are that as well.

I knew a songwriter once that built a key change into every song he wrote. It was such a strange thing that I had to ask him why he did it. He said that any emotion the song brought up would intensify when the key changed. Since he mostly wrote church music, he said it made the congregants cry.

Perspective shifts moments act like key changes for me - they compress the emotional content of several days or weeks into one moment. My words have not yet caught up to my feelings, so I'm not entirely sure what last night's cognitve dissonance means. But I can honestly say that being part owner of a business has been the source of more shifts in my thinking than anything else I've ever done. HTH says that every day is a new thing - and he is right - but the key change moments remind me that my new normal is a very, very different place than where I lived a year ago.