Mishap Magnet

You have to laugh when things go wrong.
At least I do. I know it sounds weird. But I have to. 

You see, I am a bona fide Mishap Magnet. It's true. Ask my mom. She used to call me her "little walking accident". If it could be knocked over, tripped over or run into I'd find it. I have a special knack for things not going quite according to plan.

I have been very fortunate that not very many of my mishaps have been on the scale of life threatening, although there have been a few of those, too.  Most of them are those little inconveniences that we just don't have the time or patience to deal with. Sometimes they seem so big because they impact something else but, in the long-run, they aren't that big. That's what we have to remember. Most of these won't matter in five years.

Along my journey down the accident-laden trail, I have realized something. Things almost Never go according to plan and it's going to affect you. Here's the thing: you decide how they affect you.

I see so many people who allow these little frustrations to get to them. They get mad or irritated or feel put upon and let that feeling grow and grow with each event. Eventually, all of these little things build up into one big giant thing and they are bitter and unhappy because their life isn't what they want it to be.

Things go wrong for everyone. And everyone has the choice to dwell on them or laugh at them and let them go.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I never get frustrated. I'm an emotional extrovert by nature, so I understand the frustration and irritation and exasperation. But then, you've got to see the humor and the irony in these things. I learned to chuckle at the sitcom qualities of my life (even in the midst of a moment of exasperation) a long time ago and it's been one of the best life lessons for me. Because things are going to go wrong. A lot. And I want to enjoy my life.

For your enjoyment, a few examples from my own life. Go ahead, laugh. It's good for you.

- Lost keys/phone/homework/backpack/shoes/you name it as you're trying to head out the door to work or school.
- Accidentally deleted over twelve pages of a fifteen page paper
- Barely finishing a paper on time and the printer wouldn't print (technology and I aren't friends)
- Spent over an hour gathering groceries (making sure to check for sales). Get in line with a full cart, put everything on the counter and...left my wallet at home. And I've done that one more than once!
- Got stopped for speeding when I was running late for an important meeting at work.
- Drove four hours to a conference I was leading music at, got ten minuted from the hotel and my car dies. Apparently, when I had my oil changed a few days before, they didn't think it odd that they didn't have to take any oil out to put several quarts in and did not notice the quarter-sized hole in my oil pan. Had to replace the entire engine.
- Got a new car. Had a friend drive it home for me the day we bought it. She got in a wreck. Officer: How long have you had this car? Me: One day!
- New house (no fence), puppy in master w/pee pad in bathroom. No pee, but he Did destroy the Entire bed set: pillows, comforter, etc along with several books and shoes and the bed frame. It literally looked like it had snowed from all the pillow fluff.
- Got paint to match an item to go in a room, painted the whole room and the color didn't match.
- Tied orange tape to the trees we wanted to save when clearing for our house. They knocked those down the first day!
- Rode six horses at the barn I worked at, no problem. My back went out getting off a little pony who was standing still! Out of commission for three weeks.
- Was going to show my cousins my riding (they had never seen me do it). Get to the barn and someone had used the horse I was supposed to ride. She was handed to me hot and sweaty, so I hosed her off and took her out bareback. And it was July 4th. And someone shot of illegal fireworks. And I wasn't wearing a helmet... hellloooo concussion!
- So far I have brought two hurricanes and three tropical storms with me when I have visited my dad and stepmom.
- Visiting my dad and stepmom (they lived on a boat), the dingy to get to shore couldn't hold all three of us plus my bag, so dad rowed me & my bag to shore, then I was supposed to row back out to the boat to get my stepmom. At four o'clock in the morning (the airport was on another island). With a hurricane coming. Between the dark and the wind and high waves, I couldn't find the boat. I circled the anchorage twice before I heard her calling to me. Thought I was going to drown within sight of land on that one!
- Had my nose broken three times. All on accident. All by people I know. One was my mother by opening a door (love you Mom!).
- My "not broken" toe still has a bump that hurts when you push on it five months later.
- Twice pulled a muscle without moving more than six inches!
- Spent a week planning something special for the boy for good behavior and had to cancel because he decided to make up for lost time misbehaving the day of the event.
- Spending an hour picking up a mess it took my child two minutes to make (again and again and again)
- Telling a child not to do something and they just have to do it one more time (again and again and again). Come on, it's funny. Especially when they have been warned there will be consequences and you know they are going to do it anyway. It's like they can't stop themselves.
- Got all dressed up for a Halloween birthday party and, when we got there, no one was there. The party had been the day before.
- My wedding gets it's own category:
     - The caterer for our rehearsal dinner forgot about it
     - My stepmom and great aunt went to go pick up the food and got lost for three hours
     - I tripped on the lining of my dress going up the steps
     - I forgot the words to the song I was singing to my new husband
     - When I threw my bouquet, it hit the ceiling on the way to the girls and fell straight down to the no man's land in between us.
     - there were a few others but trivial compared to these ;)
- My birthday also gets it's own category:
     - fractured ribs
     - food poisoning
     - double eye infection
     - party fail (long story)
     - my first ambulance ride
     - broken nose!

I hope you have gotten a chuckle or two out of my misadventures! Take a minute and reflect on your own. How many things in your life that seemed so terrible or irritating or frustrating at the time are funny now? If we can keep a hold of that prospective, we can learn to chuckle even in the midst of those moments or at least soon there after. And once you can laugh at it, you break the power it has to make you unhappy. It's your choice. I choose to laugh at the sitcom moments of my life!

B now thinks the puzzle pieces Belong on the floor!