Every now and then life hands me a tune up lesson, a reminder about things I have already learned but seemed to have forgotten. The lesson does not come in a e-mail marked urgent or in stack of papers delivered via snail mail. No, most often it is comes disguised in the ordinary daily tasks of life.
Yesterday had a remedial lesson hidden in its midst. Believe it or not, it happened in Wal-Mart. I was in search of a spiral plastic thingy (note the technical term) that you can put on your wrist and attach a key to it. I need one to on which to put my new gym card, which is about the size of the grocery key chain cards. I swipe in when I go in and it records my visit. This feature is important so that when I reach one hundred visits I get a tee shirt. Wardrobe enhancement always a plus. Also each time I go to a weight machine, I insert the card and it records my reps, energy expended and range of motion. What will they think of next? All this is to say, I need it really available and attached to my massive key chain.
I thought it would be a simple task to find one of these thing a ma bobs (technical term again) because everyone seems to have them. The Dollarama does not. Off across the parking lot to Wal-Mart I head. After cruising the likely spots with no results, I do the sensible thing and ask a sales clerk. She directs me back to the Stationary aisle, where I had spent the last ten minutes, with the assurance I can't miss them. That statement should have been a clue, I always miss the obvious. Back I trundle and spend another ten minutes cruising the two aisles. No luck. I ask another sales clerk who goes down the aisle and immediately puts his hands on the spiral key chains. I had passed them by at least twenty times. There were six in a pack hanging neatly on the hook among the tape and the post it notes. The problem was that they didn't look like I had expected.
I was looking for a single bright yellow one hanging by itself. Instead a number were packaged together; olive green, gray, and pink. I didn't realize my expectations until I saw what they really looked like. Life lesson: expectations may cause me to miss something important because what I am looking for doesn't like like what shows up. Short form: lose the expectations and look at what is in front of me, that is when life gets interesting.
Yesterday had a remedial lesson hidden in its midst. Believe it or not, it happened in Wal-Mart. I was in search of a spiral plastic thingy (note the technical term) that you can put on your wrist and attach a key to it. I need one to on which to put my new gym card, which is about the size of the grocery key chain cards. I swipe in when I go in and it records my visit. This feature is important so that when I reach one hundred visits I get a tee shirt. Wardrobe enhancement always a plus. Also each time I go to a weight machine, I insert the card and it records my reps, energy expended and range of motion. What will they think of next? All this is to say, I need it really available and attached to my massive key chain.
I thought it would be a simple task to find one of these thing a ma bobs (technical term again) because everyone seems to have them. The Dollarama does not. Off across the parking lot to Wal-Mart I head. After cruising the likely spots with no results, I do the sensible thing and ask a sales clerk. She directs me back to the Stationary aisle, where I had spent the last ten minutes, with the assurance I can't miss them. That statement should have been a clue, I always miss the obvious. Back I trundle and spend another ten minutes cruising the two aisles. No luck. I ask another sales clerk who goes down the aisle and immediately puts his hands on the spiral key chains. I had passed them by at least twenty times. There were six in a pack hanging neatly on the hook among the tape and the post it notes. The problem was that they didn't look like I had expected.
I was looking for a single bright yellow one hanging by itself. Instead a number were packaged together; olive green, gray, and pink. I didn't realize my expectations until I saw what they really looked like. Life lesson: expectations may cause me to miss something important because what I am looking for doesn't like like what shows up. Short form: lose the expectations and look at what is in front of me, that is when life gets interesting.
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