Sunday, April 6, 2014

Coping with Chaos

My friend Sherry sent me this cartoon the other day. It came on the heels of death and disease among friends, catastrophes that struck without warning, confirmations that with the best of plans, nothing is predictable: 

Anyone who has lived for even a short time must agree with Robert Burns that  

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men 
Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]. 

And so it was that I drove to Ogden on Friday to pick up a couple of works of art that had not sold at a gallery auction. I loaded them into the car, drove away, knowing that my day was already a success. Two blocks later, I ran a stop sign. An innocent woman, driving a new Kia, blew into the left front of my car. Police assured me that it "could have been worse," that no one was hurt.  I knew that, but I also knew my day was going to be different than I had thought. 

When I finally got home with a rental car, I took a Lorazapam to calm my shot nerves and a couple of Hydrocortisone to boost my adrenaline. 

And "So it goes," says Billy Joel in Slaughterhouse Five. Once again I am grateful for boring, uneventful days, when nothing, absolutely nothing happens.



4 comments:

  1. Yikes, I think I could hear the sound of the metal crumpling as I was reading about it - envisioning a kind of slow motion movie. Glad everyone was fine.
    Love the cartoon - we are planning an Stake 11 yr. old scout bike hike up to some ice caves and the cartoon illustrates exactly how I'm envisioning it will be for me, since I haven't been on a bike and ridden any great distance for some years now. (except on my stationary bike and I'm pretty sure that is nothing like the 6 km on a gravel road we will be taking) Love your blog and the fact you know the words to "I'm a loser baby, why don't you kill me." Put a smile on my face.

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  2. My Fourth of July celebration last year:
    http://twebsterarmstrong.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-summer-vacation.html

    Station wagon totaled. No, I did not sue the kid. Many folks disagreed with my decision. ($,$$$,$$$) Always the Pollyanna, I hope that he will learn form his mistake. Maybe, maybe not. But knowing, personally, idiot youth who have wrecked their lives, I opted to "throw this minnow back" as it were. Here's hoping that minnow matures and is a vibrant member of our society.



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