5:55 pm. Laura calls from upstairs and says she needs me immediately. I quickly finish posting my blog on Metric Failures. She informs me that the impromptu birthday party for our neighbor, Judy Gardiner, starts in five minutes and we have a dilemma. She has made a healthy meal and would prefer to eat it rather than showing up for pizza. Works for me. But since we are going to be late, she thinks we need to bring something and dessert would fit the timing. Could I run down the street to Two Sister Bakery and grab something?
I say sure and run over to bakery. Sunday night 6 pm, they are closed.
I come back and we decide I should drive to our closest food market, Food Tiger. Off I drive and five minutes later I discover they are closed. I immediately drive another five minutes to Winn Dixie Supermarket and run into their bakery section. I have many choices and since I don’t know the number of attendees, I make a decision. 24 cupcakes of a variety of colors are bought and I arrive back at home for dinner at 5:30. We eat and run over at 5:45 and find our cupcakes compliment the cake that is already there.
I got excited because I realized that I had failed twice in twenty minutes before succeeding in the twenty fifth minute. My failures exceeded my successes and even my successes didn’t work out the way I hoped I did. Yet, my wife appreciated the effort, Judy appreciated the gesture, and I felt good about my persistence.
To paraphrase Thomas Edison, “I didn’t fail. I just discovered two places that do not sell desserts on Sunday night.” Sweet!
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