the center for changing lives is under construction

there is a previoulsy empty lot on park avenue in south minneapolis with a huge sign amidst the cinder blocks, and it says "the center for changing lives". i am in love with this for several reasons.

first, what a perfect and ironic metaphor: the center for changing lives is under construction. isn't that how lives change all by themselves? construction? block by block, square corners, detours, traffic jams and rennovations...we drive our lives through miles of it every day until the site is finished, which it never is, until the final moment.

the other thing is, what a terrific concept! if you need your life to change, there is a place you can go. you come out of salons with cuter hair, you come out of restaurants with a fuller belly, you can come of there with a new life! who doesn't want a piece of that?

so if you could go in there and change something, what would it be? i imagine a whole new life is quite expensive, and i wouldn't do that anyway, but certainly there would be less expensive treatments that i could afford and wouldn't take too long. maybe they could make me be neater. or worry less. i would never ask for something like "make me richer" or "make me happier", first because i'm plenty rich enough, and happy beyond reason, and second, because those are things i should make happen for myself, not ask anyone else to do for me.

but if they could instill a desire to be neat, especially as it relates to putting things back where i found them - now that would be worth paying for!

watch this site for further updates on the construction.