When you come to the end of the trail (standard:Inspirational stories, 904 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Apr 25 2010	Views/Reads: 2847/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I was working so hard the other day on a project that I actually finished it three hours ahead of schedule. Then, I did not know what to do. I had so psyched myself all up spending the entire day on this special project that when I was finished with it I

I was working so hard the other day on a project that I actually
finished it three hours ahead of schedule. Then, I did not know what to 
do. I had so psyched myself all up spending the entire day on this 
special project that when I was finished with it I did not know what to 
do with myself. 

Several things suggested itself at the beginning. I am not a person
completely devoid of ideas. 

First, I could go tell the Mistress of the Parsonage I finished my
project ahead of schedule and wait for her to congratulate me on a job 
well done. However, if history teaches me anything, this is not a good 
idea. In times past, when I found myself with a spare moment or two my 
good wife knew quite well how to fill it up. Her to-do-list toddles 
very closely to forever. 

I could be corrected on this, and I probably will be, but my wife has
not had a spare moment in her entire life. I am not sure she would know 
what to do with a spare moment. She always has something more that she 
can be doing, and invariably she does it. She can time a project down 
to the 10th of a second. 

Again, my facts could be a little foggy here, but I think she invented
the multitasking syndrome. Now, I would not mind this if it would stop 
there. Some things should be kept to ones self. But she has this crazy 
idea that if she can multitask, I certainly should be able to do it. 
After all, she says, "You're the man of the house." Whatever that has 
to do with the price of rice in China, I will never know. This is where 
we have a little bit of a breakdown in our communication. 

Her idea is that when you finish a project you should immediately begin
a new one to maximize your energy. 

I take a different view about this altogether. I believe when you finish
a project you should sigh very deeply and then for the next three or 
four hours celebrate the fact that you finally got the blasted thing 
done. Any thoughts of the next project should be so far removed from 
your thinking process that it does not compromise the celebratory 
moment. 

If I finish a project in the morning, I feel I should take the rest of
the day off and celebrate with several scoops of freshly dipped ice 
cream, and don't be stingy with the hot fudge. If, the project is done 
in the middle of the afternoon then I think I should go out for supper 
and celebrate my good fortune and apple pie à la mode is on the menu. 

My idea is to celebrate completion while her idea is to celebrate the
opportunity of starting a new project. She never sees the end of the 
trail only the beginning of a new one. 

I say, whatever makes you happy... go for it. 

However, she has this fuddy-duddy idea that what is good for her is also
good for me. Share and share alike, is her motto. And so, I could go 
and tell her that I finished my project ahead of schedule. 

Or, I could hide from her for the next three hours and revel in secrecy.
After all, what she does not know will not cause me any pain 
whatsoever. I could sit back in my chair, sigh very deeply and relish 
the moment all by myself. 

The only problem with this is that when I sigh deeply and sit back in my
easy chair I soon become afflicted with the drowsy-eye-syndrome. This 
is followed by snoring, which has the effect of calling attention to 
myself from You-Know-Who, and then my cover is blown. 

I do know this, if I am caught with a spare moment on my hands it will
be put to good use in very short time. And so, there is a third 
possibility. 

I can pretend that I am not finished yet. I remember the words of wisdom
passed on to me by my father. "Son, do not let your wife catch you with 
nothing in your hands." Then he pressed upon me a valuable lesson he 
called, "The High Art of Tinkering." 

I cannot tell how many times this has saved me. If I do not have
anything to do, and I do not want to do anything, I simply tinker. But 
there is a way to tinker and then there is a way not to tinker. 

Once I was tinkering around in the garage when I heard my wife coming.
Grabbing a hammer I pretended as if I was busily engaged doing 
something. 

"Oh," my wife said when she saw me with a hammer, "since you already
have a hammer in your hand come and help me put up this new shelf." 

The old saying comes to mind, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." My
wife cannot stand idle hands especially if they are at the end of my 
arms. My good wife operates by the biblical principle, "Whatsoever thy 
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor 
device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest," 
(Ecclesiastes 9:10 KJV). 

I, on the other hand, have my eyes on the end of the trail. 


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