Some Days You're the Dog, Some Day's You're the Tree

My Uncle John, who is my dad's lifelong best friend, is famous around our family for his awesome quotes. Dad told us whenever we could prod the story out of him about the car-sales meeting when the boss asked Uncle John if he had anything to add to the annual promotion. His response: "I say we make it bigger and better than last year". Gold.

Another of his famous lines is the title for this post. A concise statement on how life works. It is also, if I may say (and I may, since this is my blog), a much more vivid mental image than the old standard: "win some; lose some". Well, as any of us could easily say, I have had plenty of days when I have felt like the tree in this equation. I want to tell you about the last couple of days, though. Although it may not yet be August, the last couple of days have been dog days for me.

I went to work not expecting a whole lot on Friday night. Business has been slow so it would be a bit much to expect to achieve early retirement after a summer night in a fine-dining establishment. This weekend, however, the Porsche racing series has stopped off in Birmingham. First of all, can you imagine that? Not only owning a Porsche, but racing the things! Needless to say, this is at least a moderately wealthy crowd.

Well the guy that actually owns the league- club, confederation, circuit, or whatever it's called- decided to sit with his buddies at my table that night. Now, from a waiter's perspective, the really cool thing about people like this is that they are not trying to impress you. As a matter of fact, they could probably care less what a guy in a tie and an apron thinks about them. Blue collar people are the same way. We have no reason to impress each other, so it's an exchange of service, respect, food, and money.

It is usually the dudes who have a fairly good amount of money but are insecure for one reason or another who are the wrench-throwers into the situation. In an endless quest to impress valets, waiters, women, fellow politicians and the like, these guys quiz everyone around them about their knowledge and qualifications ad nausea um.

Anyhow, these guys were ridiculously easy to wait on and spent considerably more money on the check than I have in my bank account. It was good to be a dog for a night.

In fact, it was so good that I went ahead and got me a dog the next day. I've been working on stuff all morning and my little lab mutt has been sleeping the whole time. Maybe I can learn a thing or two from my dog. As I look at her, I'm sure she is not worrying about where her next meal will come from or what anyone thinks about her sleeping in public. She intuitively (however imperfectly) trusts that her master will take care of these things when the time is right.

In the midst of all my striving and whining about being the tree, my Master has been taking care of me at the right time. He has not consulted me as to when I think things need to be done. He listens probably a bit like I listen to my Delia, with concern and compassion but also completely positive that he knows what is best for me.

I want to be one of the guys that are pleasant to wait on. I want to be like my dog. I don't want to impress anybody; instead I want to trust my Master for what I need.