I am in the details

I am in the details …

It’s all in the details … the difference between a dress purchased at Walmart and something haute couture by Coco or Yves or Anne or Alfred … an incredible party and a so-so affair …

Details … are the invisible wall beyond which intimacy lays …

when speaking to the neighbour over the garden fence you say, “I’m cooking chicken again tonight” … and to your spouse or loved one you state, “I’m cooking up a delectable chicken meal tonight full of plum tomatoes, fresh oregano, onions and peppers and zucchini in a white wine sauce … and I think I’ll serve that on a bed of wild rice.“

it’s the littlest details that speak the loudest … affirming to those select few or many that they are special … we let them in for a closer look at those things that make us who we are …

… after all, we are all but a sum of our many parts …

In similar fashion, our mental file cabinets hold lists of all those particular likes and dislikes and trivial and not so trivial details of those we hold dear … she has a heart-shaped mole on her left shoulder or he likes his carrots cooked but still crunchy and they both like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups …

I think that’s why these kind of lists are so abundant in blog worlds and facebooks and social networks … it seems such a nonthreatening way to reach out and be heard … to hand over to someone little samplings of ourselves … probably qualified in our mind as “it’s nothing “big” … just a few of my likes and dislikes … “

But it’s the small and teeniest of details that define who we are … and who you are … and who they are …

Does that mean we are all starving to be accepted “as is” … that sale item we purchase not quite sure if we’ll find it defective or not … and in turn, does that mean we haven’t taken the time to ensure that those around us know all those little details … or perhaps we’re afraid that they haven’t taken the time or that they don’t have the inclination to remember? … are we recording ourselves for posterity? …

Daily life has a way of bombarding us with issues and crises and tragedies and celebrations that overshadow those little details … sometimes they only seem to be important as a birthday or christmas or an anniversary comes around … (what? Blue balloons? … you know she hates blue) …

As much as we are in the details … that is also where we can assuredly find “love” … the extra sprinkles on the cupcakes … the handstitching on the hand-made gift from Aunt Ida … the extra heart on the picture drawn by a child’s hand …

… it’s about remembering that she doesn’t like her foods to touch on the plate and that he hates flannel sheets … and they only drink white wine …