Over
the years, if I try I can remember instances where it seems a situation is
impossible or insurmountable. The solution promises only frustration and so you
give up, move onto a problem that is solvable, and of course, of far less
complication. If it’s too hard to deal with, you find something you can. The
result is an accomplished challenge—even if it’s loading the dishwasher. The
resulting sense of having done something puts you in a more positive frame of
mind so you can face that first problem that you gave up on.
There
are any number of ways to give up. Don’t answer the phone, turn off the damn
computer, or drown the problem in some form of alcohol or narcotic of your
choice. The latter seems very extreme, and a visit with your shrink or priest
has its advantages.
Once
upon a time apparently I had a secret desire that initially I didn’t even
recognize. Just a fleeting half wish thought.
My
little girl was on school holiday and I asked her if she would like to go on an
errand with daddy. Yes! We were going on a ride to the city to deliver a
package to the mother of one of my clients. When we arrived at the lady’s
apartment it was a fine old pile dating back to the first part of the last
century.
Upon
answering our knock on her door we were greeted by a gracious and charming
seventy-five year old that could remind one of the Queen Mother. After we
delivered the package to her, our hostess invited Carolyn and me to visit and
see the apartment. Finally at the conclusion of the tour Mrs. Anderson
presented my daughter with a little gift. A small needlepoint canvas with the
legend “Be a friend to have a friend.” We thanked Mrs. A. for her thoughtful
and unexpected gift and went down the long hallway, down in the elevator to the
lobby and out the big font door.
We
both thought at the same time, “What would it be like to live in such another
world as this?” The thought was so very wishful we dismissed it—not even
considering it something to give up on.
A
mere matter of some forty years or so has passed, and the now widowed daddy with
both Caroline and her brother married with families of their own, found he
needed a new address, something with no garden to till, no grass to mow, no
snow to solve. The apartment hunt was on.
Out
of the blue my computer-wise daughter called me with a question. “Dad, do you
remember when you and I went to that lady’s building to deliver a package and
she gave me a gift?” She went on to say,
“Well, guess what showed up on Craig’s List, a rental in that old building you
took me to when I was six or seven.”
The
rest of the story you have already guessed. The last place in my world that I will
ever reside in is where I am now quite by chance and Craig’s List plus a
wish-thought so very vague that at the time didn’t ever merit giving up on.
Be
careful what you don’t wish for you may have to give up—or something!
© 19 October 2015
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