Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards
“Oh, No! I’m human. How can that be?” by Joan Y. Edwards
I don’t like to be reminded that I’m human. That I make mistakes. That I make big mistakes. That I make such huge mistakes that I have trouble forgiving myself. Many times I am sure that other people have trouble forgiving me, too. One of the best things about being human is when other people forgive you and love you in spite of the fact that you are indeed human.
Each time I make a big mistake, I look in the mirror and say, “Oh, no. I’m human. How can that be?”
Sometimes I have a hard time forgiving myself, like the day I got a speeding ticket after I’d promised myself I would never get another one, I grounded myself for 3 days.
When I let go and forgive myself and others forgive me and accept me as I am, then I’m usually able to laugh about it. When I’m able to laugh about my frailties and flaws, it makes me feel good.
There are some things that I’ve done that even though others have forgiven me, I still can’t laugh about them. Like the day I tried to get stickers off the windows of my daughter, Lorrie’s new hutch with fingernail polish remover and it spilled on her new dining room table and took the finish off of it. I thought she was going to kill me but she said, “It’s all right, Mom. You are more important to me than the table.” I paid to have the table refinished.
And the day I forgot to put the brake on Mother’s wheelchair and she rolled off the sidewalk and it turned over. When I said, “I’m so sorry, Mother.” She said, “It’s all right. I will heal.”
Here are other times I looked in the mirror and said, “Oh, no. I’m human. How can that be?” I’ve been able to laugh about most of these.
- The day I gathered a big huge buggy full of groceries and realized my wallet was on the kitchen counter at home.
- The day I forgot to set our clocks ahead for Daylight Saving Time. When my second husband, Carl, and I got to church, the parking lot was empty. We had missed the entire church service.
- The day I was so sure I could make it through my day of teaching if it was a Friday that I pretended it was Friday. An hour later, the cafeteria manager came and told me that I had given the children the lunch choices for Friday, would I please tell them the real menu for Thursday and send it to the cafeteria.
- The day a couple of years after I married to my first husband when I added the amount I paid for our mortgage in my checkbook, instead of subtracting it and bounced a check at the grocery store/drugstore where he worked.
- The day all the noodles for spaghetti fell in the garbage disposal when I strained them.
- One day I woke up and realized it was 7:30 a.m. and my first husband, Alvin and I had to be at work at 8:00 a.m. I woke my husband and told him the time and that we had to hurry. I threw my clothes on, brushed my teeth, and my husband was still in bed. I asked him, “Why are you still in bed? Why aren’t you getting dressed?” He answered, “It’s Sunday.”
- The day I hit the publish instead of the draft button for a blog post and the blog automatically notified subscribers of a new post, but it wasn’t finished. And after I changed the title and clicked on the link, it said, “What you’re looking for is not there?”
Thank you to all who have forgiven me during my life and loved me in spite of the fact that I’m human and make mistakes.
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope my stories about my mistakes made you cringe, made you glad it wasn’t you, and made you laugh. But whatever you feel. It’s okay. Please share your thoughts about mistakes and being human. How do you use human frailties in your writing?
Celebrate you!
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Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards, Author
Copyright © 2015 Joan Y. Edwards
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I’m so glad I’m not the only fallible person on this planet, Joan. I can’t tell you the number of times my husband or my children have tried to shrivel out of sight because of something I’ve said or done. Yes, we are all human. Love and forgiveness to all of us.
Dear Sarah,
Thanks for writing. It does feel better knowing that we are not the only ones who make mistakes. There is real happiness when others love and care about us, anyway. I second your wishes for Love and forgiveness to all of us.
Enjoy your day.
Never Give Up
Joan
My moment of truth — too many to count but one that sticks out is when, as a 20 something I was working at KABC Radio in L.A. The talk radio format ran 24 hours and I had the graveyard shift 🙁 It was St. Patrick’s Day and as a call-screener for the late night host I was charged with getting someone from Ireland on the line to discuss how St. Patrick’s day is celebrated there. I got someone on the line alright — a guard from the British faction fighting the IRA’s efforts to oust British rule. I can still hear the engineer speaking over the intercom “Gwen – ug I don’t think this is the guy you want… ” It turned out ok – the guard was a good sport but was I ever embarrassed.
Dear Gwen,
Thanks for writing and sharing one of your moments of humanity with me. Oh my goodness! I am so glad that the guard was a good sport about it.
Did you ever do any talking on that radio show or others? It sounds like a fascinating job. My husband, Carl, has always wanted to be a disc jockey and talk about the songs and play them.
Do something fun to celebrate your strength in overcoming the moments of humanity in your life.
Never Give Up
Joan
Joan,
We all make goofs. Some are very embarrassing. Once I fell down an outside flight of stairs at my high school. A male student I knew helped me up. Later, I was going down the same flight of stairs and thought “What if I fall again.” And I did. The same male student was there to help me. Talk about embarrassing! I bet he thought I was the clumsiest student in school. And no, he never asked me out. 😉
This was fun. Thanks for helping us find humor in our human mistakes.
Dear Linda,
Thanks for sharing your story about falling down the steps. We do get afraid of things sometimes and then they happen. At least the male student was kind and didn’t make unkind remarks. He’s probably a customer service agent or a person in the nursing health area now. I’m glad you didn’t break a bone or sprain an ankle. I can understand that you were embarrassed, but you made the best of the situation that you could.
Celebrate you and your sense of humor.
Never Give Up
Joan
Hi Joan, you have such a healthy sense of self. I hope to learn from your example, but meanwhile, my faults and poor decisions make great fodder for short stories, poems and blog posts! Keep up the good work!
Dear Beth,
Thank you for writing. Thank you for such a sweet compliment. I have not always known myself, but I like who I am and who I’ve been and who I might become. Never perfect, but always striving to be better. I am thankful for the people God has put in my path to love and help on my journey through life. May you realize how good you truly are and become aware of all of your many talents with love and compassion for yourself.
Love,
Never Give Up
Joan
Hee-Haw! I was laughing out loud! You are so funny and real – I was reminded of all of my “humanness” and silly mistakes (many of which I chalked up to not paying attention and/or being careless)! I love your human stories, Joan – just as I love you! I know you will keep me laughing at myself for days!
Dear Ann,
I am so glad that I had you laughing out loud! That is so healing to laugh out loud. I so love it when I can laugh out loud at myself. Which I can most of the time, which is good. Thanks for being my friend. Laughter is a gift! Thanks for loving me. I love you, too.
Celebrate you
Never Give Up
Joan
Hi Joan I like your post and I am glad you’re human because some of the things you’ve done remind me of my own mishaps along the way. I think of them now and sometimes I can hardly believe I did them and then I start laughing. I hope I remember some of them the next time I sit down to write. Enjoyed it Joan!
Dear Mary,
Thank you for writing. I am glad that after reading my foibles, you remembered some of your own mishaps and laughed. laughter is good for the body, mind, and spirit. Celebrate you.
Never Give Up
Joan
No one is perfect. That’s what I try to remember when I goof up. Very brave of you to put this all out here.
Dear Kristina,
Thank you for writing. Remembering that when we goof does help a little! Thank you for saying you believe I was brave to post this. I hope maybe it will help others to keep on going and not to give up because they made a mistake.
Good luck to you with your writing, your travels, and your life. I admire you.
Never Give Up
Joan
Joan, thank you for sharing some of your blunders-it helped to remind me that we all make mistakes-some silly, some not, but the hardest person to forgive us is ourselves! There was a wheelchair incident for me also-except my mom was pushing me in the wheelchair after physical therapy about 13 years ago. We were going down a ramp and she lost control and I went rolling down into the parking lot-all was fine but she came running and felt so bad but then we both just burst out laughing! So when things would get tough, one of us would say “At least you didn’t roll of the ramp…” 🙂
Dear Kathleen,
Thank you for writing and sharing your wheelchair incident. You are so sweet to share that story with me. I’m glad that you were okay and that both of you were able to laugh about it. I love that it was your mantra for other errors, “At least you didn’t roll off the ramp.”
You’re welcome for my sharing some of my blunders in life. I hope that by sharing them will help someone keep on going.
Celebrate you
Never Give Up
Joan
Joan, with each post you help us keep on going, either with writing or in life 🙂
Dear Kathleen,
Oh! Thank you for saying that. I truly want to be helpful.
Love, Joan