Joy, pleasure, bliss. There was no way around it. I was actually enjoying the moment. There was a warm fuzzy feeling surrounding me as I gazed at the slip of paper in front of me.
Let's go back a bit.
So, there I was sitting with Josh and Gemma of JLGB, sipping a coffee in Costa in South Woodford as we discussed an upcoming BBQ that we were partnering on. We had planned the meeting to take about 30 minutes so I got my first 30 minutes free and in the event that it was going over, my car was right outside so I would pay for parking. Simple. Wrong.
An hour and a half later Josh turns to me and innocently says something. He couldn't have realised the storm that was about to be unleashed. "Do you want to check on your car?"
Whoosh! Faster than Barry Allen in the flash I was gone. Leaving a table, a cold coffee and two very startled people sitting at a table staring at the millisecond earlier inhabited seat, wondering how I had pulled a Batman.
Getting to my car I peeked at my windshield desperately hoping that no yellow and white plastic envelope would be winking at me. It was there. My heart fell, I looked again - after all maybe it was a mirage. Nope still there, real as Brexit.
Resigning myself to the harsh reality of my oversight coming back to slap me in my face, I opened the ticket and the number staring me in the face was like a sucker punch to the belly. £60! Street parking was only £1.50. What a waste. I could have bought Tziporah some toys or Gitel 40 packages of the dried mango that she likes from Lidl. “Silly Mendy”, I kept muttering to myself like a drunk hobo, causing mothers to clutch their children tighter and walk a bit faster down the street. "Don't look at the strange man, Sally". "OK, mum. Can we maybe give him a pound for psychological help"?
Clutching the parking violation in my hand, I began scanning it hoping that with all my many years of advanced Talmudical training there could be a found a mistake or loophole that could be exploited upon appeal. No luck. I slowly made my peace and decided to view this as a life lesson.
Now cool as a cucumber in middle of winter, I placed the paper on the passenger seat and prepared to drive, when all of a sudden the number thirty jumped out at me. £30 if paid within 14 days. 30! Awesome! I'm even saving £30! So without batting an eyelash my phone was whipped out and the fine was paid with a huge grin on my face.
Why was I so happy? What was so good here?
It seems to me that I stumbled upon something truly amazing. Letting go of the past. Permit me to explain. You see, once I made peace with the ticket I hadn't yet entered into the realm of "Who is a rich man? He who is happy with his lot". I was ok with my lot but wasn't really viewing it as a happy occasion but once my lot was accepted and viewed as an opportunity for me to grow, letting go of the past that could have been, then any betterment of my situation was a true situation for joy and it was like finding £30 on the floor.
Recently a Facebook friend of mine shared with me the following thought. There is a well-known idea that if one wants to test if someone is an optimist or pessimist, he should place a cup filled until the midway point and ask if its half full or half empty. My friend pointed out that actually there is another way of looking at this cup, namely that it is refillable, no need to view as anything but potential. After all, there is plenty of water in the heavens.
In an ideal world I should have seen the ticket, accepted it, then been happy with the lesson that was learned (always set an alarm for 30 minutes), but I'm nowhere near perfect and it took me thinking that I saved £30 to make me happy.
Maybe one day I'll be able to be happy right away but in the meantime I've got to run to Lidl to buy dried mango for my wife with all this extra money that I just made.
