When the Dog Eats Your Homework
When you’re in fifth grade, and Fido takes a leak on your history paper – you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, right? Maybe you have to beg for an extension, have mom write a note, re-do the paper and even settle for a lower grade.
Some of the consequences we suffer as kids are not a direct preparation for the real world. Shit happens in the real world all the time. And we constantly have to make accommodations in order to continue on successfully.
The sh*t really hit the fan this weekend, and splattered all over my precious homework. I have what I like to call pre-pneumonia – which is to say that I have a bad cough (its probably nothing). So I decided to work in my pajamas – which is my entrepreneurial right. And, at around 9 a.m. Saturday morning my doorbell rang, and a man I’ve never met stood at my door with a blender in hand – saying “hi, I’m here to move in.”
I’m not gonna get into the nitty gritty of it all. But it turned out that I spent Saturday with very annoyed stranger who was given permission by HIS lawyer to move into MY house. Yes, my house is under sale contract with the guy – but he was clearly mis-informed of the contingencies in the contract.
So I found myself using my problem solving skills to calm down the potential house thief, who nearly broke down in tears at the thought of becoming homeless for a month. Consequently, I became stuck in the middle of the strangest game of miscommunication.
By the end of the afternoon, we (my husband and I) had the house thief laughing. And that’s what you do when you are an adult and the DOG EATS YOUR HOMEWORK – you laugh it off. You do all you can to fix things, and then you sit back and laugh at the irony of it.
If you can laugh at sticky situations, then you can learn from them. But, if you let yourself get all complainy, like the house thief stranger guy – you won’t learn a darn thing. If we allow ourselves to deal with negativity — instead of dodging it — we become smarter and more capable of leading others.
The best stories in life come from our own sour–turned-sweet experiences. I am so glad my doorbell rang this weekend.
One Comment
David Askaripour
December 4th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Awesome article, Gina. Sorry to hear about your hardships that occurred, but I’m so happy that you at least were able to learn something from them. That’s all that matters, right? That’s right, just keep on moving!
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