All in the Timing

To illustrate the concept of timing, my father used to reference the aptly titled play, All in the Timing by David Ives, first performed in the 80s. It consists of six one-act plays rolled into one. More than once, my dad described one of the plays, called Sure Thing (click the link for the whole performance--it's about 10 minutes) where a man and a woman--Bill and Betty--meet in a cafe, to an inauspicious start. As they speak to one another, a bell goes off and resets their conversation until they say the right thing, interest finally sparks and they fall in love with each other.

I don't know why this resonated for my dad, but speaking for myself, I like the idea of some cosmic bell ringing and resetting our small utterances and by extension, the circumstances surrounding us, making sure that the right conditions occur and the right decisions are ultimately made.

My teeth did not start to move until about 5 years ago. My orthodontist said that with all the space I have in my jaws, it was only a matter of clock ticks before I was going to need some sort of serious intervention. I didn't know (or want to acknowledge) the extent of the damage of these small but constant shifts, but once it was noticeable, it was going to take a lot of effort to fix.

As disappointed as I am by having to go through this process at this age and this stage of my life, I realize that it was utterly inevitable to experience this challenge at this exact time. Five years ago this was not an issue. Now, it is. For whatever reason, the cosmic bell has rung, and this is the moment to occur now. And it will ring again and again and again, until the next moment finds its rightness and bursts into being. And in that moment when the weather patterns zephyr in and the seasons rotate, a newborn smile will emerge. Perhaps it's THAT smile (could it be the once with braces still upon it?) and not the one I've always enjoyed and depended upon that will catch the eye of a certain future Bill, to whom I will say yes when he simply asks if the seat next to me is taken.