Snow And Romance

Snow and romance, two completely different concepts, share the same central theme of being very beautiful in your dream and being very messy in real life. This is what Lulu is thinking when she is stuck behind a string of cars trying to get into the TJ Maxx shopping plaza. The snow storm three days ago has so far eliminated the shoulders of the road, and covered half of the right lane in slush. Lulu changes her mind–she doesn’t really need to go to TJ Maxx right now. She wants to go somewhere else, but she can’t. She’s basically stuck. Waiting in line is the only option for her. It’s an entrance way, impossible to change lane or turn around.

Actually it’s the same with life. Once you choose something, that’s it. Of course when you are making the choice, you don’t know that you are going to get yourself stuck in a position, for which going forward is the only option, but that’s the option you end up hating. Probably for those people with many resources, they can make changes or find ways to change course whenever they are stuck; but for the majority of people with limited resources, it is hard.

Lulu’s profession, her marriage, her mortgage, and even her car–they all fall into this pattern. She really wants to get a new car, but the Honda Civic she’s driving now is not old enough to make her feel blameless to get it trade in. Giving up this car is not making economic sense, especially not during the pandemic when the economy is bad. So she’s stuck with this car for the foreseeable future.

She hates economy. Everything she buys has to make economic sense. It’s so depressing. It takes the control out of her hands and put it into the cruel calculation of budgeting. She thought budgeting is supposed to mean taking control of one’s economy. However why does she feel so powerless?

She dashes into the store and bought a big wall mirror, which she has dreamed of installing at the corner of her living room for quite a while–more than a year. She wants to exercise in front of a big mirror, like when she was still having her gym membership. She feels better. She’s in control.