Tie the Knot

Tie the Knot

"I often have the sense, when someone tells me anxiously about some knot they find themselves in, that what they perceive as an impossible and painful situation calling for professional intervention is simply the complexity of human life once again manifesting itself."  Thomas More, Care of the Soul

Once I went into a wonderful bead store in Arcata, California, where I bought  silver beads to combine with  black ceramic beads  in a necklace I had bought a few years previously in Oaxaca.  I took apart the old necklace, combined it with the new silver beads.  The necklace came together quickly, and I was pleased.  However,  I thought it would be bolder if I added a pendant.

That night, imagining the compliments I would receive and the pleasure in saying, "I made it," I tied a double knot in the cord and went to bed.  I vaguely remembered the girl at the bead store

saying, "Tie the knot, but leave a quarter inch tail and burn the ends.  That will secure the knot."

I didn't do that.  I didn't think it was necessary.

In the bead store the next day, I held up the necklace to show the girl what I wanted.  It fell apart.  Black and silver beads rattled and bounced everywhere.    The young woman felt terrible.  "It's not your fault, " I told her.  "I didn't tie the knot the way you told me to."

Now I would have to start over.  

What did I learn?  I thought I knew what was important and what wasn't.  Tying the knot in the right way was crucial.  I didn't understand that.  Now I do.