The Laws of Restoration

It will take longer than you expect.
It always does.
Destruction and collapse happen in a moment,
but restoration takes time,
each step building on another,

There are no manuals,
No two are the same,
and you will make mistakes.
Sometimes you will have to undo
false steps and the undoing
will anger you, frustrate you,
even make you cry.

It is OK to pause.
Restoration is not a straight line.
Pondering is part of the process,
as is dreaming, imagining, wondering.

Ask advice.
You may believe it is just you alone
in your workshop, but there are others
who have traveled this road,
who have made your mistakes for you,
and will gladly, gladly, share your journey.

And finally, savor the beauty.
Do not wait until it is finished,
for there is beauty in every line and scar,
even in the broken parts.
Especially perhaps, in the broken parts.

No, instead, love each small step.
Dream. Imagine, and when you are done
what you have will be more precious
for being loved from the abyss
to a thing of beauty,
obvious to all at the end,
but obvious to you, from the beginning.

About this poem

This is a chair I bought at an auction some time ago for two dollars, and I am just now getting around to restoring it. I am not a master furniture restorer, but there are lots of pieces of once broken furniture in my house, and somehow, they are more precious to me than some of the things I bought that were perfect when I bought them.

Likewise, I feel a life restored, a love restored, has a beauty deeper than one that has been unblemished by pain and suffering. Some people call those marks of age and wear “Distressed”, or “scarred”. I called them character.

Tom