Everything turned out exactly, positively, as expected.

You don’t hear this very often.  And if you do hear it… maybe you should take it with a grain of salt.  Does anything ever turn out exactly as we expect?

Sure, things can go very well… or very poorly… depending.  But unless you are a clairvoyant, or a time-traveler….., you can never…. entirely…. expect every sequence of events.

Okay.  Okay.  Let’s say you baked a Bacon, Spinach and Cheddar Quiche.  And it turned out swimmingly.  Yummy.  Perfect-o Mund-o.  But did everything really go as you expected?  Did you really mean to crack that third egg, and have a few of the shells fall into the bowl…. only to have to fish them out?  Or when you were frying the bacon, did you expect the telemarketer to call you while things were a-sizzling?  Probably not.

Or…. let’s say you coach a football team.  You won the game 21-6.  Super duper for the good guys.  That was the result you were looking for.  But did you expect your quarterback to throw two interceptions?  Or for your offense to fumble the ball on the 15 yard line late in the fourth quarter?

You see.  Most everything has an unexpected “thing” at some point or another.  And… these have a few universal names.  Whether it is in the kitchen, on Wall Street, in computer technology systems, or in the operating room.

They can be recognized immediately, by the words coming from the person’s mouth.  You know.  The person who is telling you about the “unexpected thing.”

……  “We have hit a little snag.”  … …. “There’s been a hiccup.”  …… “We came to a little stumbling block.”  .. …. “We hit a bump in the road.”

Yes indeed.  The old SNAFU.  They always sprinkle sugar on these sayings… which are code words for “screwed up.”

To complicate matters more… when we expect things to go a certain way… we have a tendency to count our chickens before they are hatched.  I have learned…. never, ever… . to count your chickens until the yolks are sunny side up in the frying pan.

So what is my point?  Well.  Life just is.  It is…. as we know it.  We can try our best.  Always put our best foot forward.  But there are times when we will trip, and fall.

As the incomparable Doris Day once said… “Que Sera Sera.  Whatever shall be, shall be.  The future is ours to see.”

So very true Doris.  The future is ours to see…. once it gets here.  The Quiche turns out.  The Team wins.  Or not.

So…..  expect what you will.  But remember what I told you about the chickens.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  ― Søren Kierkegaard