Live And LEARN!

There is an expression of which we are all familiar which beseeches of us to not ‘cry over spilled milk.’ It sounds like a silly sentiment, yet, these words carry a BIG message not the least of which is to not regret that which cannot be undone or rectified. The genesis or origin of the adage is not clear; however, ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk’ is an age-old proverb that has been around for hundreds of years. The first historical reference to the phrase appears in a document written by British historian James Howell in 1659. The saying most likely comes from European folklore. According to the old tales, fairies were particularly fond of milk and would drink up any spills left behind, thus the milk would not go to waste leaving folks feeling better about the ‘spill’. Such as it is in life, when we can often find ourselves disappointed in the outcome of things we endeavor; when the ‘end-result’ of our effort(s) are less than what we hoped for or imagined we can sometimes ‘agonize’ over what did NOT come to be. The other evening I put my ‘heart and soul’ along with purchased food-stuffs and personal time into attempting to prepare a lovely dessert to take with me to the Cape for my outing, yesterday. Although I presumed myself to be ‘on top of things’ and that I’d followed the recipe ‘to a T’, as I have done in the past, I realized, quite unfortunately, that this was not so, as I completely ruined the cake by misreading the recipe. Oh well, right? Although I was not so cavalier in the beginning, as for a little bit of time I ‘tortured’ myself with the ‘haunting’ self-inflicted harassment of reminding myself of what a mess I’d made...the $$$ wasted...and the time I had invested all for naught, I am NOW able to look back upon this incident as an opportunity to teach myself a bit more about accepting that, in life, all outcomes will NOT be what we desire. The idea behind reminding ourselves to NOT cry over spilled milk...OR ruined cake, for that matter...is to understand the need to ‘let go’ and ‘move on’ from moments in life which we cannot change other than by doing things differently the NEXT time. In carrying even further the sentiment this statement intones is to know the importance of letting ‘bygones be bygones’, to not worry about the little things that are in the past, and by choosing, instead, to focus on the wonderful things that are in our futures after learning from our mistakes and unsuccessful attempts at things we endeavor. We may not have little ‘sprites’ in out lives to lap-up the messes made from our own ‘spilled-milk’; but with the right attitude, desire, and perseverance, we will ALWAYS be able to make the BEST of a ‘bad situation’. (Note to self: baking SODA is NOT the same as baking POWDER!) Just Sayin’...