A Moment for Newness

A Moment for Newness

“Participating in newness? Now what are you talking about? We’re in our eighties! We haven’t seen anything new but the sofa we purchased last week. The only way I can participate in that is to become a more avid couch potato than I already am. And I find that incredibly boring.”

Sheila and Joe were having one of their many philosophical discussions about life. Sheila, the aforementioned couch potato, had never really understood her husband’s fascination with the psychology of things. Retired from his practice twenty years before, Joe had never let go of this fascination. Now here he was, going on about newness when life had become so old that even the clock sounded arthritic.

“Well, every moment is new. Don’t groan. It is! And I’m not talking about just things. I’m just talking about getting involved in life no matter what stage of life we’re in. Don’t fall for the old ruler that a certain age is the measure of the sort of changes to make. And don’t tell me you don’t participate in newness every day. You change every single recipe you make, and often develop your own. I know because I’m your taste tester. You want a new taste, a new presentation and a new balance of flavours and colours.”

“I didn’t think that counted but - and I hate to say this - you’re right. Again.” 

Sheila’s forehead wrinkled. She tipped her beautiful white hair to the left. Always a signal to Joe to be quiet and let her think. 

“Okay. I think I’ve got it now. So, when you had the hip surgery and after rehab you wanted to keep up walking and swimming. And riding your bike. Not new activities for you. But the way you had to do all those things was new. Like learning all over again with different abilities. Free of pain and stiffness.”

Joe leaned back in his chair and smiled. “And then there was your response to all of my changes. You had become so wonderful with taking care of my needs that when I wanted the independence the hip surgery had bestowed on me, you were at a loss with all the time you had for yourself. Learning all over again you also had access to different abilities.”

“We do get so caught up in the minutiae of each routine that has been necessary, so often just accepting the lack of anything new in this world. It's really about experiencing and finding newness in changes rippling through life that are so often ignored or really not even recognized.”

Their very old, and very arthritic, cuckoo clock painfully chimed eleven a.m. Sheila and Joe looked up simultaneously from their very serious discussion. Almost as simultaneously they both chimed in:

“Time to get the old dear fixed."

 "Time for us to try a new lunch bistro."

“You have to be slightly uncomfortable with what you’re doing, 

and you have to be able to try to find moments of newness.”

~ Jonathan Anderson, designer

Author's note: Edited February 19, 2024