Lessons in Patience, Part One
I may hold the record for the longest pause before laughing at a joke.
When I was around 6 years old, our next-door neighbor finally completed years of time and money-devouring work on a lavish custom motorcycle. He invited us over to show it to us. We praised it mightily. It really was a “cherry” bike, as hipsters like my parents said in those days. And then we noticed the name he’d hand-lettered on the gas tank: “Miss Take.”
My parents and the neighbor shared a hearty laugh. Without me.
I didn’t get it.
“Miss…Take,” like ‘mistake.’ Get it?” the neighbor explained.
I didn’t get it.
Then my dad explained it.
I still didn’t get it.
Then my mom explained it.
About now, my ears were burning and I was feeling like the dimmest bulb on the planet.
So I smiled, and said, “Ohhh, yeah!”
But I still didn’t get it.
Ten years later, while walking across our high school campus with my buddy Marc, I suddenly stopped and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Marc asked.
“Miss Take!” I guffawed. “Mistake!”
“What? You made a mistake?”
“Yeah, no, I…never mind.” I said no more.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Perhaps I simply needed to rack up enough before I got the joke. And, heck, I’ve made so many since then you could call me “Mr. Take.”
Crickets.
What, you don’t get it?
Now you know how I felt.
The thing is, most of my mistakes are related to a lack of patience. But, hey, I’m impatient to wrap this up, so I’ll tell you more next time.
And I’m guessing you’ll relate.
Mitch Teemley 
Indeed I can relate. Impatience is probably the root of most of my mistakes also. But you and I are probably the only ones…
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;>)
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Mistertake?
More crickets.
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Exactly. Give it 10 years, Linda (it doesn’t mean anything now, but it might by then ;>).
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Here’s my mistake story: We just “celebrated” our anniversary on Saturday. At home. Just the two of us. With takeout. We MISSED STEAK at our favorite restaurant. (That’s OK. We’ll make up for it when we’re vaccinated!)
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Happy anniversary, Nancy! And thanks for the groan. ;>)
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You’re welcome!
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Mr. Take. That’s hilarious.
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I always remember my employee number in a certain cadence, and then someone read my number a different way and I realized that for eight years there was an easier way to recall my employee number. The end. 😢
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;>)
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Yeah most of us can relate..Patience is the key 🔑..😊👍🏻
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Oh, yes, I can relate. I have a big impatience streak as well.
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Got you beat by a long chalk. John Lennon wrote a book entitled “A Spaniard In The Works.” I got the joke 45 years later.
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I did too! I had the book as a kid and loved it, but assumed the title was pure nonsense. I don’t think it was until about a year ago when I read that the English equivalent to the American idiom “a wrench in the works” was “a spanner in the works” that it clicked. We’re clearly related!
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Thanks for sharing your decade later laugh. You just made me feel a bit more normal! I thought there must be a glitch in my wiring somewhere when I would have a joke come back and give me a laugh days later, especially after people try to explain it.
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This is a very nice article. Waiting for the next part! ^_^
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I can relate with every word.
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I can totally relate! From the literal: when I was a child, I thought heaven was God’s wife (I heard “God in heaven” as “God and heaven”, and made that assumption that they were a couple.) But as far as mistakes go, yeah, impatience is the root of many of mine!
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;>)
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I get the crickets. This is a good story. It seems none of the same people were around both times, but now we are. That’s a treat!
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