This morning I learned how to open up a tin of black shoe polish. It was an absolute revelation! Have you ever tried to pry one of those things open? First, there are no helpful hints on the can. They give plenty of instruction on how to rub the stuff into your shoes, but no help, whatsoever, if you want to open the tin first. I probably should say that I have polished my shoes before – many times, in fact in the last 40 years. Our Catholic school uniforms included a pair of saddle shoes that had to be polished for Church on Friday morning. The polish we used back then came in a plastic bottle. It had a little sponge top. When you squeezed the bottle, the black or white would seep through the applicator. It was so easy and kind of fun, truth be told. I wasn’t exactly neat about it, but I got the job done. That said I feel better sharing my joy at this new discovery. I bought the good stuff in the tin because it looked serious. I go through a pair of black shoes every year or so. I try to make them last as best I can. So, in an effort to be a better steward of the things entrusted to me, I decided to by the KIWI can. Talk about frustrating… There’s this little metal thing on the edge. It looks like a miniature bottle opener (for ®Barbie & Ken.) I had no idea it could spin! When the lid shifted a fraction, I knew I had discovered the secret. A small triumph in design, the little metal thing creates leverage. How brilliant!Why am I writing a blog about a tin of shoe polish? I guess it struck me that at 45 there are so many little mysteries I haven’t unraveled. (There are, as you might imagine, some not-so-little mysteries I’m working on, too.) I guess, at midlife, the moments of wonder have become increasingly particular and attached to rather mundane endeavors. As silly and small as these new learnings are, I seem to get such a charge from them. It’s as if the world has become more miraculous or my time in it has become more precious. Either way, I feel drawn to the mysteries – big and small. Maybe, it’s the small victories in life that make a day so sweet.
