the bar

I have a friend that tells me often that the bar is set so low for their expectations of other people that anything good at all from another human is pretty amazing.  I keep saying “Raise the bar! Expect more! You deserve better than the minimum!” I give the pep talks because there’s no one close to me that deserves any less than the best in this life.

And then today, I realized the bar I’d set was so low it was on the ground.  Someone kept a promise to me today.  You know me, I love to quote Fugazi, “Promises are shit, we speak the way we breathe,” having been burned a million times by people I’ve trusted; such is life, and so I’ve learned not to trust, not to believe it until I see it.  My bar is set too low: when I hear “I promise to…”, I almost always hear it as “There’s no way in hell I’m gonna ever…”  And a promise was kept today.  So surreal it was that when I woke from a nap this evening, I had to stop and think hard to determine if a promise kept was just a dream in the midst of my unexpected sniffle-induced slumber or did it really happen?  It really happened.

My bar was set too low–I should have had trust, faith…but I guess I had to be shown one time, had to have it proven.  Not all promises are shit, not all promises are made to be broken.  Thank goodness for that at long last, and thank goodness for everyone who has patience with me and my skeptical guarded soul.