Pricking my Ass on the Sharpened Spire that Sits Atops the Temple of Exquisite Mistakes
Triple Ouches
When you have made this many mistakes; you learn to cherish them. I totally agree with who ever it was that mentioned that you will learn a hundred times more from one mistake than you will from 100 triumphs [if indeed that was ever mentioned].
I have and always will take full responsibility, something my father ingrained in me with the gentle sole of his standard issue Armed Forces boots; AND have absolutely NO regrets. He who claims no mistakes; is no more than a ghost or even more likely an insecure lier. Some of the most interesting moments in my life have been been the struggles to overcome my biggest mistakes! I am nothing but the composite of my successes, failures and mistakes…
Feeling the hot and moist breath of 50 gently tickle the hairs on the back on my neck. Oh, there’s a few years left before the ultimate “midway” performance review; but I feel it coming, it cannot be outrun… It will soon be time to turn ’round and embrace the old guy.
I could list a series of goof, gaffs guffaws and blunders that pock my life like the face of the kid who was so far out of the running for prom-king that they forgot to put his picture in the yearbook; there are a few that would warrant enough examination to afford a shrink’s child two years tuition at one of the best prep schools in town. I’m trying to think what my favorite might be…
Would my favorite be one of those mistakes I saw coming; slowly ambling over the horizon as I simply dithered away waiting for the obvious decent and eventual cataclysmic impact and destruction of the entire foundation I had built, usually upon the wreckage of numerous previous mistakes; OR would my favorite be one of the spectacular sideswipes… Mistakes that appear initially as surprising unexpected events until some healthy personal forensics reveals that, at the source, as per usual is a tiny point of decision; a seemingly insignificant wrong turn down the wrong fork in the wrong road; perhaps a missed intersection or on-ramp. Perhaps I would have to pick a favorite from each category.
I’m assuming that over the next few years the amount of effort I spend untangling certain past mistakes will, be as great, or greater than the effort required to steer clear of the next big mistakes… My challenge for yesterday.
Happy Birthday to Me
