surviving the embarrassment

I love the way life brings me back to reality. Just when I think I have everything figured out and am walking around with the ultra-suave-James-Bond-I-can-do-anything mentality, life intervenes and makes me look like a fool. Typical occurrences include: tripping over my own feet on flat ground, walking into an "automatic" door, spilling food items everywhere (most likely a drink), and my personal favorite: a complete shutdown of all verbal abilities resulting in a death struggle to form a coherent sentence. There is nothing more embarrassing than when I try to voice my opinion in a conversation but end up blurting out "Hop-schotching cats eat pizza in the fall." I'm stuck. There is no way of getting around a statement like that. I now have to defend my position on hop-schotching cats even though I know nothing of their kind.

I am not 100% sure why life causes these things to occur. Maybe it's so I stop neglecting my opposable thumbs and thank them for giving me the ability to hold things. Or, maybe it's so I sound even more intelligent when I'm actually able to form a proper sentence. No, I think life does this so that I can see the true colors of those around me. When one of these unfortunate events takes place I am completely vulnerable. Those lucky enough to witness one of my shining moments have the choice of how to react. To a degree I expect them to laugh and rib me a bit. But, I find that those who are true friends will hold the incident with the least amount of importance. They will just write if off as: "Well, that's just Blondie. What did you expect?"

So, how am I able to survive the dumb things I've done? The key is acknowledgment. Once I can see the humor in what I've done it is much easier to join others in laughter. If I can't laugh at myself the embarrassment will just end up demonizing my life.