windows

Allison and I were having a heavy conversation tonight, and probably of necessity, but in any case, to break the weight, she glanced at the French door panes that I’d recently washed and said, “You really got those clean. You’re amazing the way your keen eyes see streaks in the windows, that no one else would notice.” I responded that everyone sees streaks in the windows, it’s just that I refuse to tolerate them.
Of course that is not really true, (the part about not tolerating them) and the whole scenario is much more complicated than I made it sound. Truth is that my windows are as dirty as anyone else’s windows. Come over and see for yourself. From time to time, I look out into the backyard through fingerprints and spiders’ webs and long for a clearer view. I leave my cereal bowl on the table, grab the Windex and scrub away, inside and out. The perfectly transparent window makes all the others virtually opaque, and so I get at them too. But over (very little) time, the crud builds back up at a rate that is not immediately noticeable and there I am seeing less than I could be through smudgy glass.
Some of us notice the dirt and crud and are just too lazy to get up and clean it. Over time, the crud completely clouds our views and we just stop trying to look out. Someone could scrawl “wash me” on the window with a finger, and it wouldn’t even be noticed.
Others of us, have seen the crud for so long that we truly don’t notice it anymore, though we keep looking out, and get a distorted view that we don’t even realize is no longer real or clear. Beautiful, red Cardinals are just grey blobs and the oaks are indistinguishable from the maples and hummingbirds fly by unnoticed.
My windows are constantly getting dirty with fingerprints, spider webs, and just goo from the atmosphere, but thank goodness, all it takes is a little vinegar and water, and desire to see clearly.