I recently moved and purchased a house that was promising, but in need of a few touches to look and feel 100% like me. A few of the changes were actually needed. A few others were wanted, but the most extraneous adjustment that I made was to replace the front door. There was nothing wrong with the old one. It was windowless, dark wood, rather plain.
By my standards, a door should represent what’s beyond. After all, it does signify a beginning or end… to a visit, a nesting, an effort for connection to someone, something “yonder”—all important, at least on a transitional level. While I’m not so unique that my door should be green or round with a knob in the middle( thus leading to a hobbit hole), I did feel that my home was a bit more deserving.
The exercise made me consider doors in general… the apertures intended for passage of people, animals, air and light—at least that’s what Webster said… I love this! What more could you want from an opening than the comings and goings of creatures (of all descriptions), oxygen and energy?
Heavy doors suggest security, a needed comfort. Maybe more, they suggest privacy. I am a Southerner by birth and always promote the sunlight and ready love offered through an open door, but I crave solitude when times try me.
Walking through any door indicates a decision on some level. I’m fond of the metaphor because I’ve made a lot of life decisions recently and walked through multiple new doors. Exciting. Daunting. Of course the most daunting is to close a door I’ve used with comfortable frequency for years. I’ve all but heard the lock click behind me. Those clicks make me shudder. They signify something irretrievable, and lost options are frightening.
Perhaps the best aspect of a door is the potential waiting just one step on the other side. I think potential may be my favorite quality. What is potential if not hope, and where are we without faith in the unseen? As long as there is a door, there is another possibility. That gives me reason to get up in the morning if only to move forward and turn the knob…
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