I haven’t sewed anything for years, but when we were asked to wear masks in public, I decided to dust off the 1981 Kenmore and try my hand.
Last night after repeated clumps of thread threatened both my masks and my sanity, I started trouble-shooting. I changed needles. I tightened the tension. I hauled out a can of air and sprayed the bobbin case. No luck. Today I made a trip to Walmart and bought sewing machine oil (and groceries, I promise!). One drop of oil later, I am back in business. One drop.
And because my mind moves to metaphor naturally, I started wondering about other situations in which “one drop of oil” might resolve an issue and get things back on track. A good joke. An apology. A well-timed silence. Finding a point to agree on. A quick negotiation.
It won’t be long before we don’t need these masks. They’ll become part of a Coronavirus documentary we’ll watch 10 years from now and say, “Oh, yeah, I remember those!”
But a drop of oil – we always need those. The trick is to figure out how to be one.
A well-timed silence really spoke to me. It’s something I need to do more often.