Looking for a Silver Lining; It’s Not Just a Cliché, It’s a Choice
I have to slow down and actually write the blog. Because I pack early to practice for the video, I don’t forget anything this trip!
Friday is school day at the reenactment. No one comes.
For the first time, I’m free to leave my table, walk around to meet and visit with other sutlers.
I find a perfect location for my table on the porch. Everyone else thinks so, too. Every smoker looking for a place to sit in the shade and have a cigarette, or cigar, sits next to me. Two little sisters argue and scream at each other in front of my table. Dogs visit the water faucet behind me and do their business in the grass beside me. A toddler’s lollipop busts and the pieces scatter. Now I have ants under the table. I look around for my sign that says .....
I have the perfect opportunity to practice patience, tolerance and charity. And, I have soap and shampoo in the shower at the hotel.
It’s a boring day that no one is attending.
The news man from the Bristol & Johnson City, TN, television interviews me since I’m not busy. It airs on the TV Friday night and they do a spot about my books on Saturday, and run it in two newspapers. Great free advertising!
Thursday night in the hotel my cell phone, ipad and lap top are all plugged in for the night. They are all 78-85%. In the morning they are all 0%. The power sucked out of them?
The weather is beautiful Friday and absolutely perfect on Saturday.
No one comes. I sell three books. (I normally sell 40.)
I don’t have to drive to Greenville to get more books before the next road trip. Think of the gas I’ll save!
The next morning in the hotel, the ipad is fried. It’s so hot I can’t lay my hand on the screen. Dead. I can’t take credit cards.
Good news! No one asks to use a credit card. Isn’t that great? I don’t lose any credit card sales.
Sunday morning I drive to nearby Abingdon, VA, to go to Christ the King Catholic Church at nine and be back to the battlefield by ten. I get to church early so I roll down the window and put in a CD. It’s nearly at the end when the car and CD stop. I call my AAA road service. I check my granola bar and water supply for the long wait ahead. Only a half a bottle of water and one granola bar.
Road service is here in 20 minutes. Impressive! Only a dead battery. A half a bottle is enough.
The 11 o’clock church service at the camp sets up on the porch, beside me. Of course, they do. No one is coming anyway. I sell four more books. In three and a half years I’ve never only sold seven books.
I have an uneventful trip back home. Humble pie is a good dessert. Not one I want or need every day, but now and then, it’s a good thing to help me look for silver linings. I bury trouble and move on. Or I could just be grumpy. It’s a choice.