I Forgot; No Worries
So, I have spent a significant part of my life dodging certain situations, trying to figure out how to minimize my mistakes and play up my successes. Do we all do this at one time or another? I don’t know. Lately, though, I have taken a different approach. I noticed the fruits of this process just the other day when I saw my sweet neighbor whom I will call Claudia. “Claudia” and I often walk in the evenings for stress relief (and, yes, I will admit exercise). She will call a bit before bedtime and ask, “So, do you think you can walk tonight?” My responses vary by degree of stress in my life, the activities of the evening, or the rate at which my children drift into blessed slumberings.
So, the call came, and I am sure I could’ve used the walk. Trevor was out for a few minutes, but I expected him back soon and promised to call her. Well, he came home, we did internet research, put fussy little ones to sleep, and chatted. 10:45 p.m. came, and I gasped. I had forgotten Claudia. Oh, no. What to do? Do I send her a quick apology text? Do I just ignore the whole scenario? (I sadly must admit that the latter would’ve been my option of choice even just a few years ago…and even now days come and go when I still feel this way…ugh!)
I drove our children to school the next day, and who was on the sidewalk as we walked up toward my twins’ classroom? Yep, it was Claudia. I came up behind her, tagged her arm, and immediately blurted out a sincere apology (I totally forgot!!!). Come to find out, she had worked on organizing something…and had totally crashed herself. No worries. Often people in New Zealand use this expression–”no worries”– and adopt its philosophy; my husband lived there for two years, and he has certainly reaped blessings for bringing this positive outlook back to his life in the States. 
Well, I could’ve run away, avoided her, continued to feel badly, etc.–but I faced the fury (which was really nonexistent except within my mind) and confessed: I forgot. No worries. 
I can be wrong, or mess up, or whatever. Or I can face my mistakes and reach out to those whom I might have offended. Most often I find forgiveness and much less stress when I address the issue instead of run from people. How about you?
2 comments
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Recently, I was in a church class and interrupted one of the ladies who was contributing to the class. I felt so badly for interjecting my thoughts without waiting for her to finish her thoughts. I couldn’t wait for the class to end so that I could apologize. She was so gracious to me and made me feel better even though I was the one who made a mistake. How I love people who make others feel better!
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I have to laugh at your post. I was probably one of those friends that should have apologized more often. As I get older and in more situations I realize it doesn’t take much to accidentally step on toes. You knew me before I really discovered this, thus probably stepping on everyone’s feet. So as ‘Claudia’ expressed forgiveness, I know a lot of you all have done that for me even when I didn’t know I needed to ask.