"A Little PDL Please"...

The last few years have been "heavy" years for me- some tragedy, lots of trying events and taxing times...

I'm still here, and, as far as I know, I'm mostly smiling.

I've always thought outlook dictates outcome to some extent. If you expect good things to happen, they often do. If you expect trouble at every turn... well, better go sit on a rock and cry...

Yesterday I went for a later afternoon walk and tried out an old but familiar attitude, just to see what would happen. "Act as if" a ferry would show up out of nowhere and keep my feet dry, and then proceed to commit to that assumption with no turning back...

HUH?

Alright, here's what happened. I live on a 13.7 mile block. I know this because I measured it for my bike rides. There is a dirt road that runs from near my house directly across this block, alongside the vineyards and acts as a "halfway escape route" if I don't want to ride (or walk) the whole block. Instead of 13.7 miles, it shortens the block to about 5.8 miles, which is a perfect distance for a good brisk walk.

The trouble is, this time of year, the creek rises and widens and is full of snowmelt- a serious problem when it is only 33 degrees outside and getting dark. And I had only meant to walk a ways up the block and then turn around and come back. The trouble was, I was walking so well and my dogs were enjoying themselves... and some idiot was visiting some other idiot and an agressive pitbull was lunging at us through a rickety fence...

We passed him once without incident, and I figured I'd keep walking around the block and take the shortcut home- just in case the brutish dog got wise and figured out how to maul the fence in half- AND HAVE TO WADE THROUGH THE CREEK JUST BEFORE DARK.

Truly. I had commited to it.

I figured I'd get cold and wet feet and walk briskly home the last half mile, then swap out my wet shoes for a hot wet shower and I'd be fine. I am, after all, a galoot with a high threshhold for discomfiture and pain...

But as I was walking, I started to feel some old optimism come over me.

"Something will happen"... I thought. "Something lucky"...

I just needed to keep walking and expecting something good...

Sure enough. Some guy had just bought a new-to-him four-wheel-drive truck and had taken it off the road and crossed the creek and ran around along the muddy road for a bit before turning back. It was, after all, getting dark and cold out.



As he was crossing the creek to head back onto the road, I was walking toward the creek from the road, with a big smile on my face...

"Dude... You wouldn't want to ferry me across that creek wouldja? It's getting dark and I just live over there..."

"Sweet!"

Right before my gate, I stepped in a puddle.