The manual could be wrong….

“I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.”
― Marilyn Monroe

This week I am playing mum to two hairy four legged babies, who are the treasures of my friends Lady G and Lord P. Who have ventured off with the family to the sunny escapades of Florida USA.
This being only my second day on the job, I need to confess that even though Lady G left me a manual (she pronounced it maaannnnuelll…being the refined and organised person she is) things just don’t work out as planned.

Firstly she expected me to read the said maaannnnuelll, which to a person like me who doesn’t bother with instructions for electrical goods was rather naive of her I thought. Instead I only read it after I find that I am unable to switch on/turn off something like the TV which kept turning back on as I left the room for bed! Very paranormal or just the wrong button as it turned out. Then there is the things that are wrong in the maaaannuelll, such as how much each dog should be fed. Lady G got the amounts mixed up for each dog. So instead of the little dog Granville getting a measured dose of his favourite kibble he must have felt like a king for the day as I tripled his dinner. A fat king after he had finished, while Gracie a more delicate dog ate her small portion without complaint. Then there are the things NOT in the maaaannnuelll, such as when Lady L and I took my charges to the seaside for a race along the dunes, they come home and make the whole house smell like damp dog for the next 24 hours. Ahem, maybe I should note that in the maaanuelll!

I am not having a go at the still very comprehensive maaaannnuelll, no it’s a great idea. In fact as I consider house/pet sitting as my career for when I retire, (so much do I like living in other people spaces at least for a while), I think the maaaannnuelll is a great Invention. It’s just its not fool proof (not that I admit to being the fool but if the cap fits). No I have come to realise just like life sometimes you have to just do it and learn from the experience.

However I do agree parts of my life could do with a maaaannnuelll, but it still wouldn’t matter, I would still wait till I was struggling before looking it up or find that bit of life guidance was missing anyway. This week as I stay with Lady G’s babies and pray I will lose my sense of smell, I have finally agreed to change a part of my life that the maaaannuelll missed out. Although in my heart of hearts I knew it wasn’t working I still didn’t want to change it, such is the stubbornness of my will. Especially as it involved other people who I care about (easier if you can’t stick them -right?). And is down right impossible when the other people involved have a different perspective on it. Oh and it also has a big bunch of emotions attached to it, which is just code for hurt is on its way so watch out!

But in the end whether its a detailed instruction or a omission, you got to live it anyway. You only really learn the lesson by living it – (don’t ya?)

A old pastor of mine told me that life lessons are not linear, they are more of a coil. You don’t live the lesson and go directly to the next one. no we are more stupid than that (I think he was meaning everyone not just me…..). Simply put he said “That when we don’t learn through a life lesson, its repeated until we do. Whether its consequences from bad habits or wrong doings to others or relationships. We just keep looping back (and suffering the consequences) until we learn that we need to change what we are doing, how we are thinking or what we are focusing on, in order to get where we are suppose to be in this life.

Needless to say I have now read Lady G maaannnnuelll from cover to cover, while it didn’t help me make my life change (I did that anyway) it did mention the wine stash they left me. I have made a mental note to always at least skim the maaannnnuelll in the future, you never know a head start mightn’t be such a bad thing in the future…….