Tag Archives: lumpy

Cement

Cement: (n) a powdery substance used to make concrete.

I was young. My idealism and passion were running far ahead of my common sense.

I met a fellow who wanted to start his own construction company. He explained that he had the knowledge–just not the bucks. An
opportunity had come his way to lay down the cement for a very large driveway.

All he lacked was the front money.

I was not totally stupid. I inquired of him. I asked him if he knew how to do the job–if he had any previous experience.

After about half an hour, I was convinced that all the gentleman needed was the chance to get his seed money so he could do the task and therefore give himself a decent start on a new career.

Matter of fact, he invited me to come down and watch him lay the concrete. So I did.

The truck arrived, poured out the cement. But my friend did not have enough workers to spread it out and smooth it down, so it began to harden–lumpy, uneven and just generally ugly.

I watched as he became frantic and finally gave up, as the cement refused to be pushed around anymore.

It was a disaster. Not only did he lose the money I gave him, but the client demanded that he make restitution and pay another contractor to do the job.

I learned three things that day:

  1. If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t invest in it.
  2. Passion is no replacement for experience.
  3. Cement hardens much quicker than we want it to.

 

 

 

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Bed

Bed: (n) a piece of furniture for sleep or restDictionary B

As an itinerant so-and-so with an inkling to go-go, I do not have the opportunity of referring to the word “bed” by prefacing it with “my.” In the course of a normal month, I will stay in motels and sleep in as many as ten beds.

They make a difference.

In the motel industry, they fall into three major categories–and that’s without considering the Goldilocks Syndrome of “too soft, too hard and just right.”

  • Some are too low.
  • Some are just tall enough but are lumpy.
  • And some are way too high.

I do not like to get up out of a bed like I’m sleeping in the wilderness on an air mattress.

I am also not favorable to locating the correct mountaintop or valley within the landscape of the mattress, where I might be able to settle my bones, free of ache.

And finally, I also do not like to fall out of bed from a dizzying height.

Yet it is amazing how well we can adjust to circumstances if we avoid the craggy chasm of bitching and climb the exhilarating mountain of good cheer.

After all, if I get a good bed, it is temporary.

But also, if I get a bad one … the road calls.

 

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