Some Lessons Need Only Be Learned Once


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Thankfully, many lessons need only be learned once.

Like the time I went grocery shopping at Food Lion, shortly after moving to North Carolina. My cart, brimming with over $200 worth of groceries, all scanned and ready to be loaded for transport back to the new apartment.

It was then I learned, with at least four customers in-line behind me, that grocery stores don’t accept “starter checks” from the bank. And seeing as I had no credit, no ATM card, and it was past 4 in the afternoon on a Friday evening…the check-out lady got the pleasure of voiding the entire transaction, someone else got the pleasure of restocking the shelves and freezers with my perishables, and I got to enjoy a humbling moment and a hungry weekend.

Good times. Lesson learned. Nearly twenty years, three moves, and six banks later – I have yet to repeat that mistake.

How about leaving-on the propane after realizing you don’t have a working stick-lighter anywhere near the grill…then returning 4-minutes later, with a lit candle in your hand…

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of this lesson, allow me to IMPLORE that you NOT open the lid to the grill. Eyebrows, moustaches, even nose hair is flammable.

Finally – most recently – sitting out on the deck under a massive oak tree: Should a mellifluous songbird capture your attention and imagination from the branches directly above you…

…close your mouth before looking up.