Just Spinning My Wheels

A friend of mine told me about how he parked his old VW Passat wagon in his gravel driveway last summer, deciding to bicycle his way to work. He needed the exercise and wanted to brag that he was "being green". Well, summer ended and he decided to start up the old wagon. It started okay, after some coughing and smoking, but when he put it in gear, it wouldn't move. The front wheels spun but the rear wheels were locked in place. Seems the parking brake was set all summer and, being a rather wet Winnipeg summer, everything seized or rusted up.

Well, he thought, I'll just jerk the old wagon back and forth, and unfreeze the rear brakes. That, of course, didn't work. All he did was bury his front wheels to the axle in his gravel driveway. Long story short. He ended up selling his old VW beater a few weeks later ... "as is, where is" ... for a few hundred dollars.

I thought of that story when I thought of my day today. Oh, it was a good day in many ways. It was certainly a beautiful Manitoba morning. Mild for this time of year. Sunny, with those blue skies for which we're famous. And, all the trees and shrubs were thick with hoar frost. Perfect for walking my dog with a friend who I hadn't talked to for nearly 30 years. Yes, my day started out very good.

But, later in the afternoon, alone with my thoughts, I started spinning my wheels. I was thinking of some of the things that had happened in my life over those nearly 30 years since I had talked with this friend. Lots of the things that had happened to me were wonderful. In fact, most of the things that had happened to me were quite wonderful. I had met many great people, I had done many things in my personal life and career that I was respected for and proud of, I had travelled all over the world, I saw most of my dreams fulfilled. Everything seemed perfect. And, it was. Then, my life was totally changed. By 'circumstances beyond my control'.

Now, I am beginning a new life. I just have to recognize when I'm 'spinning my wheels' and stop it, shake my head, and move on.