102 Triangle Diner as metaphor

We all have   . . .   our Triangle Diners

I frequently drive by the Triangle Diner. I don't know the name of the man who has been working on it, but I sympathize with his plight. 

The Facebook page on the diner has entries going back to 2010 but I am sure he has been at it longer than that. The Facebook page details many improvements through text and photo; however, the last update on the page is dated June 2014.

Frances Lowe told me she had heard someone comment about a project, "Well, that will be completed when the Triangle Diner opens!"

Then I started thinking about all the unfinished projects in my life. I mentally listed the current ones such as purchases of craft projects yet untackled, trim paint still needing a second coat, several started and as yet not completed writing projects, shut-ins I should visit . . . the list is long and depressing. Even more depressing was the ones that I had abandoned in the past--to discouraging to enumerate!

I consoled myself with the thought that everyone in Winchester does not drive by my unfinished projects.

Diane Nyad swam for two days to reach Cuba from Key West when she was 64, just a tad younger than me. That was her fifth attempt to make the swim. Her first four attempts had been halted by minor inconveniences such as sharks, storms, jellyfish bites, and an asthma attack. 

Her advice on reaching the goal: “I have three messages. One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.”

A psychologist commenting on persistence pointed at that many people who succeed in spite of the odds have a support system of people who mentored them or provided the right suggestion when needed. If you keep your goals to yourself, you are less likely to achieve them. Nonetheless, I still do not intend to display my unfinished craft projects on Amherst Street!

Priorities need to set as well. Walking for health is more important than that second coat of paint--more fun too!

Wikipedia has a page devoted to Unfinished Creative Work, which made me feel better as well as insignificant. Here are some of the items listed:

The Triangle Diner shrinks to nothing compared to the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona. Construction began in 1882 and was delayed by the Spanish Civil War. The basilica is still incomplete but the church draws 1.5 visitors annually. And heed this, oh, Triangle Diner: Barcelona Cathedral, different church, took 615 years to complete. The Cologne Cathedral in Germany, 632 years!

I don't believe Winchester officials will be that tolerant of delay!

As a former English major, I was delighted to discover that Chaucer never completed Canterbury Tales to its full length. 

I probably could have sloughed through it to the end, but I could not have read SIX more books of the Faerie Queene! (Edmund Spenser wanted it to be twelve books long but finished only six. It is still the longest epic poem in the English language.)

Cincinnati started an underground rail system in the 1920s. Work stopped in the Depression, never to resume. The tunnel system, sometimes called Cincinnati's biggest embarrassment, is still visited by tourists.

Two unfinished examples from authoritarian governments:

According to Wikipedia, the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea will never be completed because of cost and poor structural integrity. It was planned to be the tallest hotel in the world.

So you can dream big, but have to design better!

In China the New South China Mall, Pearl River Delta was supposed to be the world's largest shopping mall (notice a trend here?). Although it opened in 2002, it has just 20% occupancy and is called the "ghost mall."

Now, don't we all feel better?

Unfinished, but hopeful

Trish