This Might Get a Little Weird

As I was driving to work on I-15 this morning I was playing the old, "I'll pass you, you pass me" game with another car. You know, the kind that gets really awkward after the fourth time you pass one another. We've all been there. You fake like you aren't seeing each other but deep down you know he is there and you are just praying for a brake in traffic to put some distance between the two of you. In fact, I've gone as far as pulling off the wrong exit just to be done with it.

It's moments like this, (awkward one's,) that make our life interesting. Well, o.k. I realize there are a lot of things that make life interesting, but awkward moments certainly contribute, sometimes for good, others...not so good. Without them, however, things like a morning commute could get really boring.

When I arrived in Alabama to serve a mission for the LDS church a fellow missionary who was on his way home told me "a mission is two years full of awkward moments." Ironically enough, him telling me this was awkward because, as a young missionary, I was waiting for some inspiring follow up to that comment, but nope, that was it...."a mission is two years worth of awkward moments." Alright then, well... see you later. The truth is though, that advice applies to life in general. Life is full of awkward moments.

Working in sales I run into these every day. Sometimes it's me saying something like, "well, as long as the car you are trading isn't a "smoker car" I think we are good, not noticing the customers spouse waiting in the car with a cigarette in their mouth. Or, the occasion I put my foot in my mouth assuming no one likes a forest green car. Not true. A lot of people like forest green so I have learned if they are buying a forest green car, I can pretend to like it for a few hours.

My favorite, however, was one I was not directly involved in, I was simply an innocent bystander. A customer came in and was hovering around the showroom floor looking at what we had on display while they waited for a salesman to help. As the salesman approached the customer, who was reading the window sticker on our car, he said, "what can I help you with today sir." The customer turned and said in a stern voice, "Let's get one thing straight, I am not a Sir." That's awkward. In fact, that's awkward for everyone in the room.

Needless to say, she didn't buy a car that day but the laughs we had at the salesman's expense were priceless.

My kids put me in these predicaments on a daily basis. While shopping with my three year old she pointed at a man with two ear rings in his ear and said, 'boys don't wear ear rings. They are only for girls, huh Dad?" The gentleman waited for my response as I slowly back peddled out of the isle.

My five year old and I were driving home one night and stopped at a light next to a lady smoking a cigarette. Lucky for me the windows were down as she said, "ewww, that lady is smoking Dad." I shrugged my shoulders, made my best "Jim Halpert face" and prayed for the light to turn green.

If I try to turn a post about awkward moments into something inspirational it's going to get really weird so I guess I won't go there. However, my point in all of this is to take these moments for what they are worth. Appreciate them. If anything, they leave us with another story to tell.