terrypetersen

Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.  (Minna Antrim)

Okay, I could tab to indent on my computer a few minutes ago. What happened? The cursor thinks a new paragraph begins toward the end of the line. Sure, the story I’m writing is fantasy, but the wild and unusual is supposed to remain within the context of the tale, not jump out into the keyboard.

So far I haven’t figured out how to fix it. In the meantime I count spaces and try to refrain from cursing—at least out loud. Impatience can be costly. More than once I have experienced the Lewis Carroll quote, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”  Several days ago I broke our Waterpik. Cracked an attachment. With my bare arthritic hands. Amazing what a little hurry can do. Then I noticed our printer is suffering from overuse and old age. Just when I promised to print out a couple hundred-thousand pages of something. (slight hyperbole)

Patience, patience, where art thou? Perspective, you should be around here somewhere, too. They both have a tendency to hide, generally when they are most needed. These are the times when made-from-scratch cakes fall. Cups fall from shelves and break, on their own of course. And that essential map for a trip gets left on the coffee table at home.

I sigh, and then pick up my plan for our small group’s church service on Sunday. Perhaps I should look at it and see if I am missing anything since my brain’s auto pilot seems out of whack. Darn, I sure don’t have to be concerned about running out of flour and oil like the widow in l Kings 17. Oh, we aren’t rich, by any means. Open our refrigerator door and the kitchen is blocked, but we aren’t poverty-stricken either. I have a computer, satisfactory health, and the ability to help others when they need it.

Pause. Breathe. Come back to the problem later. Or get someone else to help. Maybe even learn something new.