By: Gabriela Yareliz
First, I just want to say that I believe everyone should get a spring break. Now that we have that out of the way, I come to my thought on windows.
The other day, I sat down to watch a chunk of a movie just before bed. I hadn’t showered yet, and I wasn’t doing my evening ritual that has become oh-so-familiar. As longtime readers know, my discipline knows no bounds. So, this little act of rebellion against myself was out-of-character. I felt like I was breaking some sort of rule, ridiculously. Sometimes, we live in existence mode and the routine, while beneficial, can make us feel constrained. Does that sound weird. Welcome to my world of overthinking. (Don’t jump ship, yet…)
Why do I mention this? The other day, I came across a video of an open window in a torrential Australian rain. What caught my eye was not so much the rain (though it was lovely, peaceful and inspiring of all good things…), it was the window. There was no screen on the window. This left me in wonder. I found myself staring out of some unknown person’s screenless window into the rain for the 13 second length of the Instagram story.
My first thought was, “What if a bird flies in? Or one of those giant Australian spiders? What if…” and then I stopped myself, and I realized how much I think in prevention terms. This is a great thing in life, as one avoids lots of insanity and accidents (no need to turn life into an episode of Seinfeld, intentionally).
But then I thought, What if the whole screen thing is not needed? Marcus Aurelius reminds us, “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” I started to dream of a screenless window and whether I would dare to do this.
Fast-forward to today. I was having my tub reglazed, and the young man had a fan with a tube/pipe that needed to go out of the window. I opened the window that is used for the AC, which has no screen, and he hung the tube/pipe out of that window, the rest of the window was open and fully exposed. A bird could fly in, I thought. I looked around for an Amazon box or something to “cover” the exposed screenless part of the window. I found nothing, as I had diligently taken down my recycling two nights before (before I watched the movie). I went back to the window and gave the gaping openness some side-eye, and while cringing, I walked away and let it be. Sounds stupid, but that was hard. I sat at my table and worked, with my back to the open window.
The air circulation was much needed, and nothing bad happened. No birds; no disturbances. Only days ago, I had wondered whether I would be brave enough to have a screenless window, and then I was forced into it, in efforts to not end up high from ceramic primer. It was weirdly liberating. I don’t think it will be the last time (the open window, not the primer).
GABRIELA YARELIZ 