Leading to D'Oh

In a post called “A Stroke or What”, (February 22, 2014) I wrote about some crazy stuff happening and ended the paragraph “And then I woke up.”  It might have been better to make this a separate paragraph, but as I explained I was afraid that would soften the impact.

How many times have you read a story or joke that is going along and then comes a new paragraph that starts “And then”?  Of course that’s when the action starts.   

We all have our “And Then” Moments.  “I was happy with my significant other and then I met . . .”  “I was a people person and then I got a job in customer service.”  “I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up and then my aunt took me to see Beauty and the Beast onstage.”  “I didn’t believe in God and then . . .”

And Then Moments are not Aha Moments, when suddenly something becomes clear to you.  I had an Aha Moment on the bus reading an article by a prominent Unitarian, who said she didn’t, or wouldn’t, believe anything unless it could be proven.  My first thought was, “My God, that’s so sad!”  Caught in the Unitarian labyrinth of unanswered or multi-answer questions, I didn’t know what to believe or what I wanted to believe.  In that moment, I knew that things did not have to be proven to me.  As the old joke goes, I was so surprised, I nearly fell off my unicorn.  I was a lot happier spiritually after that.  (The And Then moment had been when I decided to try the Unitarian Church because I heard it was a good place to meet guys.  It was, by the way.) 

Can you see what your And Then Moments are?  How many of your And Then Moments brought good things?  How many brought bad ones?   Can you see what they are leading up to?  Maybe you can.  Maybe you think you can.  But you may be surprised.