the orange door: a story

"If we're fortunate enough [housekeeping] is just one of he roles in a life full of options and experiences we can choose. When it is time to sweep the kitchen floor, wash the dishes, do the laundry, dust away the cobwebs, make up the beds or prepare a meal, we do it with a mostly positive kind of energy. I love my house. I am its keeper. I want it to be comfortable, not perfect."

-Mary Randolf Carter, "A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of a Misspent Life"

--

It was his idea to paint the door orange, the color of a lucky penny.

"It's only the back door," he said. "We're the only ones who will see it."

I replied with some such soliloquy about keeping the tone of our paint colors appropriate for the tradition and age of our house, but it was all gibberish, because, in the end, he convinced me that we needn't feel quite so serious about a back door.

And, as always, he was right.