Thursday 12 January 2012

jan 12, 2012

when i moved out of my ex's house last week, i had to make some decisions about what to take and what to leave. the bathroom, especially, was a treasure trove of crap that i happily culled.

one of the things i almost threw out - and then decided against - was a big heart-shaped cake of soap that my sister brought back from the south of france after taking a perfuming course there. it was scented with fresh jasmine flowers, and i loved how over-the-top it was. i mean, it was huge! and heart-shaped! awesome, right?!

i used the soap-heart during a particularly awful roommate experience last year and, despite the soap's awesomeness, i thought, "it's half-used and sorta beaten up. i might as well just toss it." so i went ahead and did that. but when i saw it sitting there on top of all the junk - all the balled up tape and crap from sweeping up my room - it was sort of...well...heart-breaking. i couldn't leave it there. symbolically, i couldn't abide it.

interestingly, when i unpacked the soap-heart a couple days back, it was split clean in two. whoa. i'm not sure exactly how to mend soap, but i'm going to try tonight. (photos by the delightful lili kondo!)


heart parts.


i decided to soak and soften the halves - all the better for smooshing! i looked at the soap soaking in the water, and i remembered an article in ascent magazine that featured my friend eoin finn. in it, he said, “water is a metaphor for love. where there’s no rain, everything becomes thorny and protective, but where there’s water, everything is lush and open and giving." 


 a little massage to make the surface nice and goopy before the heart surgery begins.


putting the heart back together.


joining the seams.


smoothing the seams.


ta da! one mended heart.


let there be love.

3 comments:

  1. Let there be love indeed! I'm glad you kept the soap heart :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I once saw an antique wire press sort of thing that was made for putting all of your tiny bits of soap into. You know the ones that are too small to hold and keep escaping through your fingers and clogging the drain? Once you had enough you could squash all of the bits together into another bar. Your post reminds me of this, though with the addition of more love and care... and metaphors. <3

    ReplyDelete