As the look of this blog has changed, I’m pleased for the current look; but I do miss this header:
After a couple of months of blogging I was ready to personalize the header and landed on the image you see at the top of this site. Though at that time I lacked the skills to put words on a picture, so The Messy Middle was placed above the photo and where grace and truth reside was below (the amazing Fran created this version in the blog redesign). This picture captures for me what the messy middle is all about, being willing to climb out of the extremes and live with the tension of holding two, or more pieces of life at the same time.
Some have wondered where I got the photo and if it’s for real. Here’s the thing, if you are living life, you don’t have to go far to find messy (and at times) mind boggling examples. The photo is real, I know because I took it, and it comes with a good story. I live in a four (really five) story building that is shaped in a U with my apartment in one of leg of the U facing the other leg. My friends, the Packevicz’s, live in the opposite leg on the fourth floor and had the unfortunate reality of their AC dying.
The challenge in replacing it was twofold: the weight (130 pounds) and the location (two feet to the left and two feet higher than the window sill). As you can tell, it’s an outside unit and as mentioned, they live on the fourth floor. When you’re in a tough spot in China, there’s lots of teeth sucking. Let’s just say that there was practically a teeth sucking choir that day.
I took the original photo used in the header from my bedroom window trying to show the scale and scariness factor, but needed to crop it down for the header. This is the original photo:
I know! It’s crazy seeing that guy climb out of the fourth story window with only some rope coming out of the hole where the unit eventually needs to be.
My friend Anne Packevicz took these pictures to show even more of the process.
Window surfing anyone?
These guys are fearless AND very skilled!
And now to see what was going on inside. Mike Pack is on the left.
So, there you have it, the story behind the photo. Pretty crazy, isn’t it? Thanks Anne for sharing the photos and Mike for reminding me how heavy that thing is!
Amy
I loved the picture before. I love it even more now that I know the backstory. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, there is a story behind every picture.. but this story is amazing! Happy blogging anniversary, too. Love to visit here.
Thanks Alica, warmly welcome to visit anytime!
Thanks Amy,
I loved that picture at first sight, and now I’m glad to hear the story!
Thanks Hayden, me too! Someone recently told me it was “too cold and sterile” and that it made my blog look like it’s about interior decorating … but I like it :)
I like the picture too. When I first saw it I spent a good bit of time trying to decide if it was real. The brackets looked real and looked as they had been there a while thus this must be a replacement. I noticed what looks like another head above the AC making it more real. It also has the classic Carrier emblem on the AC. The hole makes it more authentic as you need an place where the lines would go the inside unit. I also realize that when desperate you can come up with some wild solutions. I also know it would be hard to think up this wild of a photo!!
I love your smile.
And your writing. I look forward to reading more Messy Middle posts.
I will go back and read more of your stories.
Great photograph for your blog, loved the other photographs.
Thanks Pamela, I’ve enjoyed reading comments you’ve made and the pieces you’ve shared in the Tribewriters course! I just looked at your site and hadn’t realized you’d spent time in Asia! Fun, fun!
I’ve only called China home for 14 months or so, but that’s long enough that I never even questioned the validity of that photograph. What does it say that I assumed it WAS real!!! I wondered yesterday as I searched for my 655th Picture of the Day, “Will there come a day when there is just nothing worth shooting for that day?” Then I laughed at myself because I live in China. There’s ALWAYS something that causes me to shake my head and pull my camera out of my purse!
You, my dear friend, hit a gold mine with this series of photographs, though. I love seeing the entire series!
Never gonna happen. AND I LOVE THAT :) (and thanks to Anne for the photos!)
And tell me again why their population is so big?
WOW This is right above where I lived for a semester. Glad my A/C didn’t go out. LOL
I think we all feel that way :)!
Michael Pack is my beloved nephew; thus Anne is my beloved neice. Great explanation of the photo and the ‘faith’ of those either doing or watching this project.
I’m happy to have found your blog and thus share a friend of the Packs in China.
Now I can be your beloved Aunt Karen!
So glad to meet relatives of Mike and Anne!! They are dear to me :)!!
[…] -by Amy […]
Amy,
That picture perfectly personifies how I feel about living in the messy middle!!! And I love the way that you describe it. My aunt sent me you poem for Mother’s Day, and your blog address. The moment I read your “About”, I knew that you were just like me. :)
It’s not easy being the one dangling out in the heat, three stories above the ground from an air conditioner bracket, all so someone else can be comfortable… but it IS worth it. I will be praying for your writing ministry and look forward to reading more of your blog! Thank you for sharing your talents with us.
Isn’t that picture wild?! They just cleaned the windows again this week :)
[…] When you check out her blog, The Messy Middle: Where Grace and Truth Reside, be sure to read the back story about the blog header: The back story […]
Hey Amy! I adapted your words about mothers that so effectively captured the complicated thing that is motherhood, desire for motherhood, and messy motherhood–into a reading for our church on Mother’s Day. Wow. We had a HUGE response. Thanks for such a great way to acknowledge this subject that went way beyond the typical elevation of a glorified idea of what motherhood is. YOU ROCK.
Don
Don … all I can say, is it just flowed out of me. It’s really more from God :). Amy