I have more embarrassing moments than I care to have, but I think we can all say that. Some people have blonde moments or brain farts, but I go for the epic embarrassment. I know you want to know a few examples, so here is just a taste from my blooper reel of life:
- As a teenager, my brakes weren't working on my car (if you can call it that) so I thought, "Hey, I bet putting it in park will stop it." And it did....forever. A very compassionate mailman (actually a mail lady) stopped and asked where I lived so she could give the bad news to my folks. This was before everyone had an iPhone attached to their hand.
- As a young adult, I drove into a cop car. With a cop in it. Yeah, I know. Who does that?!
- I traveled in a drama ministry after high school and was in charge of finances. We would go to gas stations to call and make contact with the churches we were serving and change clothes, brush teeth, etc. I made the call from the payphone and we left and went to the church. It was a great service and we had a great dinner. An overall fantastic night. The next day we needed to leave and I realized I left the wallet on top of the payphone! You know, the wallet with over 5000 dollars in it! It was never found and I never lived that down.
- I walked into my parents' house (this was when I was in my 20's) to get a tennis racket, but what I got could only be described as an X rated scene in which years of therapy could never help me unsee what I have seen. Now my parents joke and ask if I want to come over and borrow a tennis racket. My response is always a no, followed by gagging and nausea.
Why do I share these? I have to embrace the embarrassing. I sometimes have overwhelmingly high expectations of others and myself. This is just one way to bring me back to earth and off of the planet Pluto. I mean the moon Pluto. No, the planet. You know what I mean.
Perfection is where we mess up. That can't be our goal for ourselves or others. The fact is I struggle in life because I don't know how to be the best husband and father. Yet, I find myself expecting too much from my family and friends. Now when I begin expecting perfection, I embrace my embarrassment. It allows me to be human and loving. I can't wait to share these stories with my kids as they fall short of their own expectations.
Go ahead and embarrass yourselves, embrace it, and enjoy it! Doesn't that sound perfect?
