Auuuuuuuuuugh!

I have mentioned before- some posts take on a life of their own. And some ideas and inspirations take a bit of time to germinate- little fluffy something or others that float past- like the seeds from a dandelion clock- land and make... well, more dandelions and eventually- more fluff.

A couple of weeks ago I was priviledged to see the Snoopy inspired fashions at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Show. Cool. Groovy- and aside from the fact that the fashions would be auctioned off on E-bay to benefit Dress for Success www.dressforsuccess.org- was generally fluffy. Fashion has always been a fascination for me- but today I remembered something much more central to my system of core beliefs. What reminded me was:

I flunked my road test.

That I was lightly rear-ended on the WAY to the road test probably didn't help, probably assisted in the outcome and definitely set records for being just a ridiculously crummy day.

And then I thought of Charlie Brown. He never got to kick the football. He never got the red-headed girl. He was a lousy baseball team captain, was the victim of kite after kite and never ever had the answers when Miss Othmar called on him. And yet Peanuts was and is- the most popular cartoon strip of all time.

There have been countless intellectual and psychological articles written on why. Charlie Brown as inspiration. As Everyman and as the character we could all relate to. His defeats were mercilessly public. He always wore his heart on his sleeve. He fed and cared for Snoopy even when he exhibited a much less than faithful dog attitude- he sent Valentines every Valentine's day and suffered the echo of an empty mailbox for his troubles. He kept pitching even when his own team didn't believe in him. And the poor little schmuck never gave up hope that he'd get that football kicked- eventually.

I was still struggling. This really hurt. Children get driver's licenses! My friend Martian, moments before my test reassured me "EVERYONE passes". Everyone but me. But I thought about the world of Charlie Brown. No matter how misguided his friend's beliefs were- he would sit in the pumpkin patch with Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin. He might not ever win a game but he always got in the game. And though he seemed to be the brunt of many of his friend's jokes and insults- he had lots of friends and ultimately when it mattered, they were always there.

So- there I was (metaphorically speaking) laying on the ground with the wind knocked out of me and I remembered. I still have my friends. I'm still in the game- pitching my heart out. And the next time- I'll think of Charlie Brown- and give it all I have.

From the www.charlesmschulzmuseum.org website:



There is a GREAT video of the show at the Schulz Museum site under new exhibitions- I got it onto my blog post but unfortunately it wonks out my profile, sitemeter and all the jujus and fetishes I have placed here to get readers to return- sooooo- ya gotta go there to see it- sorry! Its worth it! :-*


One thing more. After I collected myself I went into the testing center to reschedule my road test. I recognized the lady behind the counter as the s ame woman who had administered my eye test at the Jersey City DMV. I was crying. She comforted me- It's ok honey, she said- you are ok- it will all be ok... and then she slipped one of her two bracelets off and handed it to me. This will give you luck the next time she said. I slipped the bracelet on- I had at first thought it was plastic beads on an elastic- but the beads were actually heavy- like metal or stone, and shiny- and each bead featured a different Latin Saint- the only ones I recognized were the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Lazarus. I wore it as we drove into Manhattan- the weight reassuring me that maybe next time I'd do better. When I got to work the day did not improve- I had a huge agenda of things I needed to accomplish and my computer was alternating between freezing or blinking off the entire day. I called in tech support but no real assistance came- the machine worked fine when they were in the room. I figured the day for just BEING like that. At 7 pm I was still at my desk plowing a way and dealing with my possessed laptop. I decided to close up, grab the papers I needed for my trips to Westchester and Paramus Thursday and Friday and head for home as I reached for my dish of paper clips 3 FLEW out of the dish and attached themselves to my shirt sleeve. I was ready to grab the yellow pages and start looking under " E" for "Exorcists, Jewish" when I noticed one clip sticking OUT of my sleeve, attached to... the bracelet. The stones on the bracelet are... magnetic.

Good Grief. And Good Night.

:)X