Last night, I went to type a letter on my typewriter. Yeah, I have a typewriter, a beautiful 1938 Corona Sterling was manufactured here in Syracuse the same year my dad was manufactured here in Syracuse.

I saw that the spacebar was cracked in half and the carriage would not move.

We've had contractors replacing our windows. It has been an unpleasant experience. The contractor is unreliable to say the least, but we've given him money and need to ride this out. A worker must have dropped a tool on the typewriter and not told us. So it goes.

Last night, I mourned the broken typewriter, just sat staring at it. I mourned too our choice of contractor and was stuck there a while.

Then I searched the net for typewriter repair. The guy an hour away who previously worked on the machine seems to be out of business. I sent email to Albany, Philadelphia, and a couple other places, still stuck in mourning.

This morning, I have replies from folks confident they can do the work.

Also this morning, I read Leo Babauta's "Transcendent: Take on Work & Life from Another Level" about seeing transcendence in the everyday. I realized that I sent a message, almost a prayer, out into the ether last night and this morning have a choice of two ways forward.

Pretty transcendent stuff.

I encourage you to find the wonder in those experiences of frustration or disappointment. They're not signs of failure, but just more to practice with.

I'll continue to be frustrated and disappointed with our contractor, but maybe this is my chance to practice with seeing wonder not just out there in the world but inside of myself as I move forward from mourning to action and, perhaps, to resolution and progress.