i've been watching the old dick van dyke show when i babysit at abby and eli's and there's a whole lot about that show that needs to be brought back. including the swinging door.
the petries had a swinging door that connected their kitchen to the living room. my paternal grandparents had a swinging door that connected their kitchen to the dining room, which probably made a whole lot more sense seeing as how what you ate in the dining room was that which was cooked in the kitchen and you're not supposed to eat anything in the living room. not to mention you can't put your feet on the coffee table.
so, anyway, the petries had a swinging door and why we pretty much did away with those, i have no idea. the swinging door - not the open one and not the closed one - should be the metaphor for............life.
swinging doors work both ways. you don't just get in and you don't just get shut out. you gotta put forth a little effort to get where you want to go. that's how life should be but nowadays, nobody wants to push even the small amount that's required to open a door. everybody wants the door to just be permanently open, period.
in modern homes, the "open floor plan" is all the rage. well, open schmopen. not everybody gets to be everywhere all the time. sometimes doors should be shut. sometimes they should even be shut. in. your. face.
the swinging door addresses that reality. it's not always open/it's not always closed. most of whether or not it's one or the other depends on.....
you.
