My earliest memory of this lesson being given to me was in Kindergarten. We all sat on a rug Indian style, I was seated next to my best friend in the world Georgie. (Our mothers to this day are inseparable). One day i just didn’t want to sit by him any longer, I felt the need to branch out and be with the cool kids. I told the teacher that I needed to move and when she asked why I said it was because Georgie was bothering me. She told me the next time he bothered me to tell her. Later that day when his group came in from recess the rest of us were watching a movie, he quietly sat down and whispered to me, “What is the name of the movie?” Well, that was it! I marched straight to the teacher and told on him. She moved me to the other side of the carpet far away, it may as well have been another country. I was, for a time, (ten minutes) quite pleased with myself, then the reality set in, a strange sick feeling in my stomach stirred, I missed my friend. I all too quickly learned that life was not going to be better on the other side of the carpet but now I had to live with my choice. You see I asked to be moved back and the teacher didn’t believe my story that these kids were bothering me more, hummm???
So, my first harsh lesson on how we should be careful what we ask for, how our choices affect our life. Did I learn it, unfortunately no, I would go on to continue receiving this lesson to this day, 35+ years later.
I’ve heard that we will keep getting the lesson until we learn it, well should that in fact be the case, I am a work in progress and although I do get it now, i falter and so can’t help but smile when I’m given it again as a reminder.
