Class Dismissed

Sometimes you have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

And sometimes you have to be taught a lesson more than once to learn it.

Sometime you have to be beaten over the head with that lesson multiple times. And then when you finally think you've figured it out, life teaches you again, just for good measure.

There are things I've managed to learn the first time around. Well..... for the honest truth, at the moment I can't think of anything.

I can certainly think of some things that took me a few swings at bat to figure out.

"Don't date the guys who treat you like crap"...took a few times to see that one clearly.

"Lock you car doors only if you HAVE the keys"..... took a few more times to get that one through my head. As a bonus to this lesson I also learned "how to break in to a Ford Probe from any angle".

Which also leads me to "no running out of you apartment building without your keys". Again this has a second lesson attached called "be nice to you landlord so she'll let you back in".

Driving in excess of the posted limit, took me more than a few tickets. As well as a few dollars, some lessons are better taught through your wallet.

The lesson I was re- taught again this evening-"don't let the dog off leash and expect him to come back". I've been learning this lesson for a good six months here.

Sometimes, even as I reach my hand down to un-clip the leash a little voice in the back of my head tells me "This seems bad".

Yet I still do it.

Then I feel the exact same string of emotions.

Astonishment, first at the fact that he has run away, then at the fact that I didn't see it coming.

Annoyance, first at the dog for being stupid, then at myself for being the actual stupid one.

Remorse, this one only gets worse as I continue on to Panic and then Dread.

Both of these emotions can be magnified when you add in a good imagination of what could happen and how it will be all my stupid fault.

All of these are followed by Relief, when I finally have him back in my not so capable custody.

This last emotion somehow has that magical ability to wipe out your memory of every other emotion that has preceded it... that is until the next time I manage to call class to order.