An anecdote from not too long ago to share:
My daughter and I went into a drive through carwash not too long ago, as I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time yet to clean the house this week, never mind my car, and decided it would be a quick little thing to check off my list. We pulled into the car wash and stopped on the designated area, indicated by the red “stop” sign. After all, I’m a rule follower. After a minute or so, the “arm” of the carwash collapsed onto the side of my car and got “stuck” against my car after we heard the loud bang it made against the car, not moving for a minute or so, or at least for what appeared to be an eternity. My daughter and I looked at each other and immediately burst out laughing. The arm of the carwash retracted, went back to the “starting position”, and the car wash stopped with soap ALL OVER my car. We could barely see out the windshield. We immediately laughed a little harder. I decided to drive through the car wash slowly to check my car, then decided it likely would be a good idea to go inside to speak to the clerk. She came out, re-set the car wash, and the car wash worked fine the second time. It was, just “one of those things….”
After we stopped laughing, I immediately realized the parallels to life. Life is truly like driving into an unknown car wash like this at times. We do what is expected and what we need to do, yet we have no control over what happens while inside that car wash. We even pay money to help sway the odds in our favor that the outcome in that car wash is what we expect for that moment. However, every now and again in life something happens, and we don’t get the car wash we expected, or planned on, or needed, etc…It is clear to me that life with all its uncertainties happens as it will, and we most often don’t have any control over the outcome. We do, however, have control over our choices about what to do about it. That is, what we do about that car wash IS well within our control. If we explore our options, we see that we can cry, we can get angry, we can become paralyzed with indecision about what we must do, OR……..we can choose laughter. Laughter truly is the “best medicine”. I chose laughter whenever I can, although at times one has to look hard to find it.
I am happy to report that my car no longer has soap on it, it was not dented, AND we had a GOOD laugh over the whole thing. Someone very dear to me once told me, it is the “end of the story” that really matters, but certainly the middle of the story is where the fun is sometimes. After all, life is far too important to be taken so seriously.
Life is good; choose laughter every time you can. Carpe diem, friends………
photo/dreamstime
Carpe Diem with Caye 