No Surprise

​No Surprise
I guess I really shouldn’t think it is weird or strange.  Happens all the time. Sigh.  Like in table tennis.  Merril can tell how I’ve gone.  If she askes and I say, “I don’t want to talk about it,” there is a good chance things have not gone well.  If on the other hand I invite enquiry I have probably done well.  There is less inviting enquiry these days.
An ad for getting hearing tested ran in the UK and not here.  I saw it on-line.  A guy in Antarctica radio’s that he needs supplies.  A plane flies over and parachutes in a box.  When he opens it a clown emerges suddenly and says surprise!! 
I want to do well.  But so does everyone else.  If I want to do better than others I need to put in the time and do that dirty word “practice.”  I know I have ability but that counts for nothing.  Until I am tested, I am a legend in my own mind.  Being tested was a rude shock.
That is really what I should not be surprised about.  I see it in sport all the time.  When a team has no one else to play they are the bees knees (I don’t even want to go there with that term).  There is no doubt about it.  They are the best until they are tested.  When they are tested, they might find out they are also rans.  In any endeavour being number one is hard.  Being the best is not the point for me.  Being the best I can be, is.
There has to be a better description than being tested.  It is just the way it is.  Par of the course.  I know of no one who does not find themselves in the rough sometimes. The difference between the exceptional players and the Joe Averages is the exceptional ones have prepared for such an eventuality by hitting lots of balls from that point.  They’ve practiced.  They’ve prepared.  No one wants to be there, but some are ready for being there.
Something I come by in an “easy come easy go” method, I tend to let go quiet easily.  If on the other hand it is a part of my hard earned, there tends to be more of a fight before I will part with it.
Simply complaining about something really means I am beaten before I start.  Mostly I  have nothing to complain about, but that does not stop me.  When I am tested, I tend to fold easily.  It seems real tests happen to all.
I find them easy to pick.  They differ from everyday annoyances.  I have no chance if I haven’t gotten on top of them.  They are biggies.  Life changing.  Decisions I need to make, or things that happen to me or those close to me.
These things reveal my true character.  Rubber meets the road stuff.  I shouldn’t be surprised though.  They happen to everyone.  If I have prepared, I am definitely more likely to handle it better.  Without preparation I flounder.  No surprise there.