Life presents too many choices. Whether I’m shopping for hair products at the Waconia Feed and Hardware Emporium, or exploring career prospects in Horse and Hound, I’ve had some trouble shaping my next career move, especially since my first one – Plan A—bombed.
Back in the day, a talented guy such as I would have simply eased into a snappy new career involving speed. That’s how I landed on an Oklahoma racetrack, as did a half dozen of my jockeys. Though this dustup amounted to nothing more than a small misunderstanding over technique, it prompted a rift with my trainer. Soon came a pink slip from the Oklahoma racing department and, bingo, I landed up here in flyover country, trying to figure out what a newly minted Minnesota horse does with the rest of his life.
Not that this misadventure turned out to be a bad thing. In fact, I’ve learned that life’s unscheduled next-steps require little more than a fresh perspective. Make that a perspective based on Yes. In my case, Plan B has also featured a new business partner—a woman of a certain age that I call Madam. Fortunately she too favors this Yes philosophy that I’ve been campaigning all around.
Yes, after all, is good for friendships. Yes broadens the possibilities for fun. Yes opens the door to new cribbage games, and Yes can even launch me into the kitchen to whip up a batch of coconut cream cupcakes for Madam’s Mother’s Day brunch.
Happy Day to all you lovely moms who take such good care of the rest of us!
Noah Vail
Best to you and said horse!
“Those who say yes are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say no are rewarded by the safety they attain.” Keith Johnstone – Improv guru
Perfect! I’ll certainly share this with the horse!
Careful, though. The horse might want to start an improv group.
I say yes to those cupcakes, Noah, they sound delicious.
Oh, they are! Ina Garten’s to be exact. I could founder on these things!
A very Happy Mother’s Day to you Emily!
Thank you, Noah, and please wish Madam a Happy Mother’s Day as well! 🙂