FIGURE IT OUT!

It took me forever to learn how to tie my shoes. I remember being told by a an aide at the daycare I was in that I'd soon be in kindergarten, and she wouldn't be there to tie my shoes anymore when they came undone. So I asked my Mother to teach me again. Hand-eye coordination has never been one of Michael's strengths, patience was definitely not one of hers. After awhile, she told me to find "my own way" if I couldn't learn it her way.


Early into our 25 year friendship, I remember frantically asking Stacey what I should do about some "pressing quandary". Who knows what the situation was anymore, but I remember desperately pleading with him to help me make a decision. Frustrated by my whining on the matter, he simply told me to "figure it out". Wow. You mean I gotta be a big boy now?

Several years later when I had just moved to Wisconsin, I was forced to learn to drive out of necessity. I hadn't been scared of much in life, but learning how to drive scared the bejezzus out of me. Get this. I'd even purchased a CAR which was sitting parked in my garage. I was about to start my new job and there was no reasonable public transportation to get me there. I called Stacey in California. "What am I going to do?" He said to me very calmly, " You bought a car, right? Okay then. Get in it, turn it on, and FIGURE IT OUT!"

The next morning I drove myself to work. Naturally we got 7 inches of snow while I working, and on the way home I slid on some ice and took out a mailbox. But I figured it out.


There have been many things for me to "figure out" lately. There are definitely days when I wonder if my path will ever be clear of obstacles. Don't get me wrong. I loves me some good obstacle course. You usually come out on the other end feeling victorious and in better shape. However lately it seems that just about everyone I know is struggling financially, myself included. You know what though? My ability to plot, dream, and scheme has aided me in "figuring out" things my whole life. And I know I'll figure this out too.

Are you on an obstacle course?
Well put on your thinking cap and dig for that determination that lives deep inside of you! There's more than one way to skin a cat, ice a cake, or get from point A to point B. You wouldn't know it by looking down at my feet, but I never did learn how to tie my shoes the way most other people do. Instead I taught myself a knot that works for me, and my shoes stay tied, never coming undone...