Today may very well be the very best day I have had since moving into this house three years ago. Lots of good stuff happened in the past three years; there have been lots of successes, hard work, rewards, and relief. Yet all of those pale next to what happened early this afternoon.
I had just finished lunch and opened the door to the refrigerator, looking for a snack. On one of the door shelves, I noticed what I thought was a piece of lint. When I tried to remove it, I realized it wasn’t lint but some kind of plastic. Could it be? I wondered. After three years? I picked at the piece of plastic again, and it became larger and larger as I pulled and it separated from the shelf. It is! It is! It is! Three years after buying the refrigerator, I had discovered plastic packing film still adhered to the shelf.
There are few things I enjoy more than peeling plastic film off of things. Certain co-workers and life partners have known me well enough to leave all peeling of plastic from a new purchase for me, even if this means navigating a filmy appliance for a couple of days in my absence. I have no idea how, when, or why this started. Perhaps it is something deep and Pavlovian from years of geeky, geeky joy peeling the plastic off of new electronics. Whatever it is, few things are more exciting to me than peeling the plastic film off of a gadget, appliance, or anything else, really. In fact, the list of exciting, ecstatic feelings for me goes like this:
1. Big capital L Love for the world bliss moments
2. Writing something amazing / sex / yoga buzz (tied)
3. Peeling plastic off of stuff
4. Dessert
I was giddy as all get out peeling an entire piece of plastic the length of the shelf from front to back. I knew I might be pressing my luck, but I checked the other two shelves on the door, and to my immense delight, both of those also had plastic ripe for peeling. After that I had a plastic-peeling buzz, and I walked around the kitchen checking all of the other appliances. There was no more plastic to peel, but I was satisfied. Three surprise plastic peelings three years after buying an appliance is more than anyone could hope for on a good day. I am a lucky, lucky girl.
