Finding the Right Balance

Have you ever experienced waking from a dream with the sensation of pulling out of a fall?  Not quite fully awake the feeling of falling abates replaced by an equilibrium. Even though your body lies atop a supportive mattress with a safe distance to the edge where a short, but real, fall could actually occur, breathing stabilizes and you feel relief because you found the right balance. If only life were so simple.

Our pool now sparkles with clear water.

I remember as a boy discovering a sign with a formula for achieving such balance. It read: sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours, fun and recreation 8 hours.  The sign was posted in some business establishments. Then, someone who thought he knew better than the person responsible for the original draft added, “but not the same 8 hours.”  Apparently, this person didn’t believe in multitasking.

World renowned counselor and soothsayer,
Senor Opus--created by Berke Breathed

When I was 8 years old I broke my leg. It was a corkscrew fracture that didn’t involve the shin or any surgery.  The young intern who worked with the specialist who put my leg in a cast was so impressive I decided I wanted to become a doctor. My mother was pleased. Not having all the information necessary to make a life changing decision of this magnitude my career path remained in tact until I reached high school and realized a quality grasp of chemistry was required to attend medical school, which unfortunately is a precursor to becoming a doctor. It made little sense to me since no chemicals were involved in the setting of my leg. Not only did I not make it through chemistry in either high school or college, but I struggled in biology, another requirement for those medical schools. Again, I contend there were no plants or animals involved in the doctoring of my injury. My plan was thrown asunder.  A more determined personality might have charged on in pursuit of a career in medicine recognizing the imbalance between the instructional design and the actual practice. Many people I know consider “bedside manner” an important trait in a physician. I am certain I could have weighed heavily on the attributes needed to project a congenial bedside manner as a means of countering my limited proficiency in chemical and biological applications to bring the right balance to my career.  Unfortunately, especially for my mother, I lacked such vision.

Some of the chemicals used to achieve the right balance.

This week I did however find a way to find the right balance to rid myself of a problem that so many of us encounter lurking in our backyard.  Yes, I’m talking about algae in the pool.  While striving to find a balance between the amount of time I spend writing, sleeping and recreating, I noticed the little yellow creatures that cling to the plaster at the bottom of our pool were not being sucked up by our robot.  My lovely wife, Debbie, who is dying to get in the pool and exercise her broken ankle, told me I could call upon Paul, our former employee who prior to our retirement came by weekly to clean our pool.  Possibly influenced by watching the first few episodes of Breaking Bad I determined to take the challenge of ridding our environ of the invaders and restoring the right balance to the water.  After a short lesson on chlorine and phosphorous at our local pool store and consulting my aura counselor—Senor Opus,  I proceeded to brush the sides of the pool, run the pump through a backwash procedure, recharge my filter with DE and add copious amounts of chemicals to the cloudy water.  Amazingly, it worked. Order has been restored and I have achieved the right balance. Now, if I can just do the same for the rest of my life the direction I am headed may appear as clear as the water in the pool.