And You Just Keep On Plunging Forward

Sometimes being able to turn back the hands of time sure would be nice. Not forever, just for a little bit...to try to look at a situation differently, or take in a moment and appreciate it because maybe you look back on it and know you slighted it a bit more than you should have. Sometimes simply for the fact that you feel overwhelmed in what's going on now and it would feel good to go back for a brief moment to something happy and familiar...

About the most we can do though is reflect. Move forward and make the most of what's to come.

A story my grandmother told me always helps me realize this:

My grandfather and her were having an important dinner party. All the 'big' people were attending. My grandmother had spent a good portion of the day prepping meals for the event and cleaning house etc. You know, all the typical items that are on a hosting agenda.

As the guests arrived it was my mother and her brother's job to stay out of sight--'Kids don't belong at adult parties.' and to make sure the dog didn't finagle his way into sight either.

My grandmother had taken this golden, beautifully cooked, honey ham out of the oven. She truly was a fantastic cook, and I have no doubt in my mind that this ham had made the house smell heavenly.

Kids being kids, my mom had found herself busy with her own play schedule and her brother too I'm sure. The dog also found himself preoccupied and kept well out of the way of the guests.

While my grandparents were attending to welcoming arriving guests, the dog was welcoming himself to the beautiful ham cooling on the table. Considering it was a dinner party for 15 people or the likes...it was a big ham.

My grandmother returned to the kitchen to check on her dishes, to find the dog up on the table with one paw straddling each end of the ham, and his face devouring the middle with a look of pure doggy ecstacy on his face enjoying each sugary sweet lap of his tongue across it as he nibbled more and more.

Needless to say, I'm quite sure my grandmother, while not a violent woman, beat that dog senseless. She stuck her head out of the kitchen and ever so sweetly smiled at my grandfather beckoning his company...told him to stall the guests with whatever banter he could while she tried to remedy this problem.

So instead of delivering a gorgeous ham to be cut on the buffet in front of all the guests...she rinsed the ham off, sliced up what was left of it, and served it on a platter. She then put her best smile on, presented it to the table with the rest of her dishes, and no one was any the wiser.

That must have been a good chuckle knowing inside that all the hoity-toity biggies from work were happily eating ham ala dog slobber.

So when things look dismal...and not panning out how you had planned for them to...you do what you gotta do and just move on since time is a forever forward sort of thing.