I know there are a lot of young people that will argue this statement with me, but here it goes anyways…
The older you get… the wiser you become.
Nope. Now that I think about it… that is not true of everyone. I better recant that one. It has now been disavowed.
Let me try again…..
The older you get, the more times you’ve been around the block.
If you keep making the same mistakes each time you go around that particular block, well, you haven’t learned much. You’ll probably run the bus in the ditch, time and time again.
But if you ease on down that road… decelerate to a stop every once in a while… look both ways…. and then move forward, slowly and surely… chances are…. you will be okay.
I always wonder about those people who say they don’t have any regrets. Whew. I have a ton of them. There are things I wish I would not have done, other things I wish I would’ve… . and still others that I’d still like to take a Mulligan on. Do overs. There are certain life events I feel contrite about, and others just make me slightly sully.
It seems that in our youth, we make those types of mistakes honestly. But with time and experience, we start to figure out better ways…. if we are paying attention. And still other times…. we run that dang car back into the ditch.
For instance. I finally learned to unplug the toaster BEFORE I stick the knife in. My head-twitch is permanent I think. But too many electrical shocks will do that to a dope.
So today, I had another reminder of this lesson.
First thing this morning, we took a nice long walk. It was raining ever so slightly. The air was cool, still, and crisp. All three dogs went along and the five of us took full advantage of the beauty of the morning. The prairie we explored was teaming with life, and blessings, and grace. Dogs frolicking… a slight drizzle…. and an alluring light filling the sky. It could have been a scene right out of a Disney movie. That is…. until our youngest dog found something dead or….something recently defecated from the nearly dead. Not only was this “found object” a thing of joy for the young Ollie…. it also became a full-body spa treatment. This event gave new meaning to the word “rub”. And odor.
Yes, our happy scene went from Zippity-Do-Dah…. to Old Smeller.
So now, that I am older and “wiser”… what lesson did I take away from all of this?
Well…. At first I was upset about the incident. Then I realized that I would rather wash poop off a dog for five minutes….. than to miss an entire hour of prairie dancing in the rain.
“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.”
-Sidonie Gabrielle
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