.a corny tale.

if i was a guesstimator, i'd say it was about six and a half years ago. (give or take half a year) my hpff and i were real exercise junkies. about once every other week, we'd walk around the local hotspot lake. before you shake your head at the notion of bi-weekly walks constituting exercise addicts much less junkies, let me explain. we ran and ran and ran our mouths. see, i told you.

on one such marathon day, i do believe my stories of personal drama were the soundtrack to our workout. as i was telling her about some of the gossip in my own life, i got off on a tangent dealing with my beliefs about karma. my idea on karma back then is that same as it is now. it exists and it's potent for me. as we rounded the corner to her house and our final destination, i wrapped up the session with a not so favorable story of one of my misadventures. we both laughed (good for calorie burning) at my tale and then it happened.

as if a squirrel were practice pitching for the local furry-tailed-rat fast pitch baseball league, an acorn knocked me square upside the head. it, in fact, hit me with such a thud that we both stopped in a state of shock. i quickly shot my head upward to find the culprit and there was nothing above me but lingering disbelief. obviously, we both took this as an absolute sign that karma does exist and i got thumped directly in the head with it. after our state of wide eyedness dissipated, we both laughed at the timing of the situation. this was a not so gentle reminder that what comes around really does go around.

in all i do, i try to remember that my actions will have a rippled effect somewhere and at some other time in my life. in saying this, i still have a long way to go in being my best self and i never expect to be free of unfavorable choices and regrettable decisions. nevertheless, i like to keep a little good karma tucked away in my pocket at all times.

driving away from my friend's house that afternoon many years ago with a giggle still washing over me, my mind couldn't help but to wonder why we began talking about karma in the first place. ridiculous choices on my part led to the conversation to begin with and i can't say that i had completely let go at that moment of possibly making the same mistakes again. as i reached up to scratch something that was irritating me on my hairline, i pulled out a small fragment of acorn shrapnel. there it was again. the acorn, the reminder of what would happen if i repeated my own errors. like good karma should, it reminded me once again where i should lead my own choices. in a corny, private attempt at symbolism, i balanced that little piece of acorn debris on my index finger.

much like making a wish, i promised myself to keep my karma in check and blew the tiny piece as if blowing out a candle. it flew with force off my finger, hit the steering wheel of my car to bounce back and hit me smack in the face. really, i couldn't make this stuff up.

karma is stubborn, determined and sometimes painful. consider this your warning. also consider that laughing and learning because of yourself both feel so good.