Happy As A Clam to Do
Something New
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| Keep reading; it's just henna |
Yesterday, I
got in my van to run a few errands, but the car wouldn’t start. I immediately
laid out a three way course of action for short term and long term
possibilities. It turned out that the short term goal was all that was needed
which is a good thing because the long term involved a new car.
My jumper
box was of course missing, but my manager Jeanine was Jeanine-on-the-spot and
came right over to assist me. Plan two would have been going to rent a car since
our repair shop was closed, the kids had to go to classes and I was leaving
town.
Neither of
us had ever jumped a car, but we’d seen it done and I could read. It’s a good
thing I didn’t skip too many of Mr. Prado’s Spanish classes because the directions
were only in Spanish.
I was elated
when I heard the engine start so we kicked into part B of phase one; which was
to get a new battery. The repair shop was closed, but Walmart is always open
and it turned out that this was where the last battery had come from.
The battery
had one month of warranty left and I didn’t owe a dime. I smiled until I heard
that it would take two to three hours to get to it. Then I remembered that I
had a book and smiled again.
Jeanine smiled and said, no worries,
we can go and do something new.
So I introduced
her to the flee market; the one we always pass but never go to. I’d been before
with my mother and my sister; who both love to walk and just look. My mother used
to say, “Let’s go not shopping.”
Jeanine and
I were having a great time looking at things we didn’t want and then we came to
the henna booth. Jeanine had done it before and even has tattoos, but I had
never done anything of the sort. She decided to have her hand done; a beautiful
and intricate design and I stood by and watched.
Then I said
to myself; “Try something new, you tell
others to.” I did and smiled the entire time. I came home with a car that
was running and my new body art.
This morning
I laughed to myself about how in the past a car that didn’t run could have been
a great deal of frustration. With only one day off, who wants to spend in at an
auto shop, I would have complained. Instead, I was happy as a clam—which by the
by, comes from the phrase “Happy as a
clam at high tide,” because at high tide, there are no predators to attack.
Be you, be new, be
happy.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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