Measure Twice… Cut Once…
2011 started with a break-in, a tree falling onto our house and a car accident on my way back from the Lowveld a couple of days ago. In the world of the “it happens in 3′s” theory it should be plain sailing from here onwards. Which it probably will be.
For a day or two.
There is a reason why my dad always called me “the original hard-luck kid”. If something was going to go wrong – it was always going to happen to me. “Measure twice – Cut once” for me was more a case of “Measure thrice – and still cut it wrong”. I bump my head and stub my toes on a daily basis and always seem to be a bull in a china’s shop (don’t think I have any china’s who do actually own a shop, though – maybe they saw me coming?).
But nothing has ever fallen off, I’ve never broken any bones, only ever had stitches twice (a grand total of 11 to date) and only ever been in hospital once for 2 days following another accident (I only had a concussion and a sore back). The sun has always risen and I have always found something to laugh about. I may be the only person that ever laughs at my own jokes… But I also laugh at my constant fuck-ups.
I laugh. A lot.
The way I see it is that if we are going to walk paths that others don’t, we are going to trip. If we stick our heads out the window, we are going to get a face full of bugs. If we dare to live without boundaries, we are going to get hurt and if we colour outside the lines, some pedantic art teacher will slap our hands. I’ve made a decision to walk along paths not travelled, to stick my head out the window, to colour outside the lines, to learn, to experience, to live… so the slaps, bumps and bruises don’t come as a surprise anymore.
In fact I welcome them. Learning how to get up and dust myself off with a laugh has helped me to survive trying to run my own business. And to live, really. The greatest gift my folks have given me is the ability to dream. And every slap and bump I survive means I get to extend the boundaries of those dreams.
But that is way too heavy a theory for a Tuesday and I don’t feel like going into it too much. Besides… The maid has just let me know that the iron is now broken and I need to go buy a new one.
And so we start with the next 3.
