Epigrams and Experience

 A popular epigram is: "Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes."

Yesterday, I was a living embodiment of those words -- a gazillion times over.

While working at my younger daughters house, I needed to move my truck to better position myself to load a chipper shredder on the back cargo rack.   Somehow, I managed to shatter the tailgate glass of my Ford Expedition. 

This "Oh, F*!K" moment brought to you by SERENITY.  I actually found myself looking down at the gazillions of tiny shreds of glass and thought, "Well, there is nothing I can do to change this.  Grant me the serenity to accept it and move on."  (Then I looked around to see if anyone had noticed my bonehead mistake).

I then moved into "Carpe diem" mode:

Choose:  To sweep up the mess and get the glass replaced.
Action List:  Sweep, text my daughter to make sure she never goes barefoot in her driveway and garage, call to get an appointment to have the glass replaced.
Resources:  Broom, humility, D-Patrick Body and Glass.
Persistent Action:  Swept.  And swept. And swept. And made the call.
Evaluate the progress:  Ongoing

Direction?:  Fortunately, all things were coming together, so I maintained direction
Improvement:  I left the drive and garage better than I found it. 
Enjoy the Process:  Okay, maybe that's going too far.  But, I didn't get upset.
My Life:  I accepted that this was my responsibility.  Didn't blame anyone or anything. 

D-Patrick was great.  They found a used piece of glass, ordered it, and put it in faster than I've had some oil changes done. 

Sure, it was an expensive "mistake" -- but invaluable "experience."

I concluded by quoting another epigram: 

"If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning." - Catherine the Great.

Have a great weekend. 

Carpe diem Life,
David Kuhn