Metamorphosis

What do you do when life throws you a curve?

Experience has taught me the cliche "patience is a virtue" is a pretty wise concept. And the older I get, the easier it is to resist the temptation to ignore that wise little snippet.
Yet another indication that no matter how hard I may fight it, maturity continues to work its magic. Who knows, a fully functioning adult may yet emerge from the childlike cocoon that is me.

When I was younger, it was standard procedure to try to force things, jam my opinions down people's throats, make things that weren't going my way, be my way. The belief was that sheer force of will was enough. The truth is, life just doesn't work that way. To use a baseball parallel, you're sitting dead red, guessing fastball, and anytime a curveball, or off speed pitch is thrown to you, you whiff. Horribly. Like Willie McGee chasing a Steve Carlton slider. And in all likelihood, with this aggression, you cost yourself a lot of life's smaller pleasures. And for what? The possibility of a little instant gratification? Maybe one in every fifteen or sixteen efforts you hit a home run?

So, continuing the baseball theme, my more mature, and hopefully wiser self has gradually embraced the idea that you have to hang back, wait for the pitch, and if it's a strike, then smoke that sucker into center for a clean base-hit. And if it ends up out of the zone, then you just enjoy your at-bat, and take a walk...