DATELINE Monday, Dec. 28, 2015: I don’t know when I learned that life is a series of problem-solving events. Maybe it was back when I wore frilly dresses and Mary-Janes to parties and reveled in school lessons involving story problems. I loved figuring out how much change Mrs. Jones could expect from a five-dollar bill when she purchased eleven items (each priced differently, of course) from the grocery store. Even better if it was a two-part question as in what was the average price per item.
Problem-Solving Method One – Hug!
The thing is, I liked those school lesson story problems. Nowadays though, in real life, not so much. Part of the difficulty these days is that most of life’s problems involve other people and can only be approached (not even solved, just approached) when those folks are available. Now that we are home from our travels, we have several such problems to solve: no internet service; plumber needed to deal with outdoor water situation; telephone answering machine kaput; dealing with the wreckage of the Poor Box at the Church (again!) etc. For the most part, nothing big. Just little annoyances that need to wait until working hours (or at least until first light) to get the solutions started.
Problem-Solving Method Two – Smile Sweetly and Act Coy
If my figuring is correct, today begins my 29,125th day on this earth. I don’t think I had many problems to solve for the first few hundred days but if I did, my part in the process was to set up a great-big-noisy fuss. If I was hungry or wet or too hot or too cold, I imagine I howled in the hopes that someone would correct the situation. Much like now, actually. Only I think the other people involved in those days worked round the clock. No waiting around until eight or nine ayem.
Problem-Solving Method Three — Seek Help!
I’ve not kept track of the day-to-day problems I’ve solved in my lifetime. I have no idea how many there have been. I think I have five on my mental list for today. And, I know from years of experience that several of those will involve additional problem-solving challenges.
So… if we say that today’s problems come to eight and use that as an average for the 29,124 other days, minus the days before I could actually solve a problem for myself (probably when I first figured out how to get from Point A to Point B which my mother said was by scooting, not crawling) that would be… But exactly when did I start that scooting business, anyway, and why didn’t anyone write it in my baby book?
Some problems, of course, have no solutions… I just hope this internet connection isn’t one of them.
My favorite problems involve Esthetics, fancy logic or physical labor in mud or sand. All three are satisfying. A day when all three happen is truly wonderful.