I’ve always had the unfortunate luck of embarrassing myself. I used to regularly go out in public with two different tennis shoes on. I never checked to see if my shoes matched, they felt comfortable so I figured they must look okay.
I have also been known to wear my shirt backwards and inside out without noticing. One of the best things about getting married is having someone to catch these embarrassing errors before I leave the house. However, even Andrew can’t catch all the absentminded fashion mistakes I make.
I have this favorite pair of khaki pants. They’re made of soft, thin corduroy. They’re a little baggy and perfect for a long day at the office on casual Thursday. I woke up on Valentine’s Day in a great mood. I had flowers and chocolate from Andrew and an apple fritter for breakfast and my favorite pair of pants on.
I wondered around the office all morning, bending over to file patient charts in the file cabinet, walking into the waiting room to greet patients and running around the office to get supplies for the front desk. Midmorning one of the patients came up to my window and said, “Did you know your pants have a giant hole in the back?”
“No…” I replied. “I didn’t know.” I ran to the bathroom and examined the hole. It
couldn’t be THAT big. No one else had notice. Nope, it was enormous. Ripped right down the center seam, showing off my fine, white underwear.
Well, at least it was only two hours until lunch.
I went back to my desk and wrapped my sweater around my waist to hide the hole.
“Did you know I had a giant hole in my pants?” I asked the hygienist.
“No. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it,” she responded.
“Well, I guess I should be glad I wasn’t wearing a thong today,” I replied.
I seem destined for miscommunication and embarrassing situations. At lunch I jumped in my car and sped home to change my pants. I only had 30 minutes for lunch and it takes me 10 minutes to get home if I hit all green lights. I was putting Speedy Gonzales to shame as I drove home and back.
The cats were thrilled to see me for lunch. At least they saw the positive in a giant hole in my pants.
I grabbed a wrinkled pair of khaki pants and threw the ripped ones in the guest room to be buried another day. As I was heading out the door, I called Andrew.
“Hey, guess where I am.”
“Where are you? Guess where I am?” Andrew replied.
“Oh…are you at my office?”
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you. I brought you a Valentine’s snack.”
Shoot, my ripped pants even ruined a Valentine’s Day surprise.
“I’ll be there in like 10 minutes,” I said, praying I hit every light green from home to the office.
I roared into the parking lot ten minutes later and ran in just as my lunch break was ending. Everyone was up front laughing at me for running out the door three minutes before my husband pulled up with a cup of tea and snack for my afternoon at the office.
So, I then had to admit the fact that I HAD to run home or spend the afternoon with my underwear sticking out of pants.
What a Valentine’s Day.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Grown up lessons
One day as a little girl I was riding in the car with my mom and I mentioned how I couldn’t wait to grow up. I imagined myself as a tall brunette who drove a red convertible and had lots of stylish clothes (how far off from reality that vision was). “You don’t want to grow up any sooner than you have to,” my mom cautioned. “Being a grown up isn’t as fun as you think. It’s a lot of work.” You can sure say that again.
I look back at my naiveté and wish I could be a little girl whose biggest concern was getting her homework done and making friends. Now I have bills to pay and years and years of work ahead of me – isn’t being a grown up grand?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this how grown up thing. I feel I’ve lived most of life to-date in the land of someday. “Someday I’ll finish my masters degree,” “Someday I want to teach college writing classes,” “Someday I want to have kids.” However, I am almost past the someday phase. This revelation was rather shocking to me. I discovered about a month ago that I am almost done with my master’s degree.
My last two classes will be this summer and then I just have to finish my portfolio/thesis and I’m done. My first thought when I realized this was not joy. I was depressed. I love learning and research and I didn’t want to stop going to school.
So, I was presented with a real grown up problem. Do I try to find a job with a masters degree or do I reach for the stars and go after a Ph.D. I’ve always wanted a Ph.D. It’s one of those “someday” dreams of mine. I’ve always said someday I’ll get a Ph.D., but I always picture me completing the degree when I was over 50.
Yet, I started to think if I really want to teach college classes then I’m going to need a degree that focuses on teaching as well as the writing or communications. My previous plan of getting a masters of fine arts in creative nonfiction didn’t meet this teaching requirement. Plus, most four-year colleges wouldn’t even look at me as potential professor material unless I had a Ph.D.
So, did I want to postpone life a bit more and go after my biggest “someday” dream? I’d have to conquer my fear of the GRE, and I would have to come to terms with the fact that I would spend another three to four years or longer working on a degree. I think I do.
The biggest problem with always planning for “someday” is that when that day does come you can’t be sure your plan will turn out as you hope it will. It’s a matter of faith, but then I think having faith in our dreams and faith that God is there to guide them, even if they don’t turn out exactly like we hope, is perhaps the biggest grown-up lesson I’ve had to learn.
I look back at my naiveté and wish I could be a little girl whose biggest concern was getting her homework done and making friends. Now I have bills to pay and years and years of work ahead of me – isn’t being a grown up grand?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this how grown up thing. I feel I’ve lived most of life to-date in the land of someday. “Someday I’ll finish my masters degree,” “Someday I want to teach college writing classes,” “Someday I want to have kids.” However, I am almost past the someday phase. This revelation was rather shocking to me. I discovered about a month ago that I am almost done with my master’s degree.
My last two classes will be this summer and then I just have to finish my portfolio/thesis and I’m done. My first thought when I realized this was not joy. I was depressed. I love learning and research and I didn’t want to stop going to school.
So, I was presented with a real grown up problem. Do I try to find a job with a masters degree or do I reach for the stars and go after a Ph.D. I’ve always wanted a Ph.D. It’s one of those “someday” dreams of mine. I’ve always said someday I’ll get a Ph.D., but I always picture me completing the degree when I was over 50.
Yet, I started to think if I really want to teach college classes then I’m going to need a degree that focuses on teaching as well as the writing or communications. My previous plan of getting a masters of fine arts in creative nonfiction didn’t meet this teaching requirement. Plus, most four-year colleges wouldn’t even look at me as potential professor material unless I had a Ph.D.
So, did I want to postpone life a bit more and go after my biggest “someday” dream? I’d have to conquer my fear of the GRE, and I would have to come to terms with the fact that I would spend another three to four years or longer working on a degree. I think I do.
The biggest problem with always planning for “someday” is that when that day does come you can’t be sure your plan will turn out as you hope it will. It’s a matter of faith, but then I think having faith in our dreams and faith that God is there to guide them, even if they don’t turn out exactly like we hope, is perhaps the biggest grown-up lesson I’ve had to learn.
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