The ‘Phew’ Factor

Have you ever noticed how a normal day can be hugely improved simply by something bad nearly happening but not actually happening? This is what I mean by the ‘Phew’ Factor. 

‘Phew!’ as in ‘what a relief!’ Not ‘Phew!’ as in ‘What a pong!’

There have been three occasions in the last two weeks when I have smiled for the whole of the rest of the day simply because something bad nearly happened but then didn’t. For the first story I need to take you to the ladies loo.  (Sorry chaps, I’ll be discrete). Basically if you are female and you are wearing tight jeans it’s never a good idea to keep your mobile phone in your back pocket….

Nothing untoward happened as I descended onto the loo seat but on rising there was an ominous ‘clunk’. I turned round to see my mobile phone sitting on the toilet seat, actually teetering on the edge of falling in. One quick swipe and it was safe! I don’t know what the lady in the next door cubicle made of the hysterical laughter or the fact that I emerged with an insane grin on my face but disaster had been averted. It was so amazing that it didn’t actually fall to its demise that I actually looked round for the angel that caught it.

Yesterday I went to speak at a ladies breakfast. For the first time ever I used a lectern given to me by my mother, something with great sentimental value to her. The event went off fine and I pulled away from the hotel intending to fill up on fuel before heading on to the motorway. Thankfullly I hadn’t quite joined the motorway when I suddenly remembered I had left the lectern at the hotel. A speedy about turn meant that I arrived back at the venue just as the final member of the organising committee was about to depart with my lectern safely stowed in her car. Bless her, she wasn’t going to steal it,  I would have got it back somehow but as the talk was two hours from my home it would have been such a pain.

Once again, I sailed through the day with an insane smile.

And today I am much relieved and full of ‘Phew’ because my boy who threw himself out of a plane at 12,500 feet at 11.30 this morning landed safe and well not very many minutes later. Why anyone would want to do such a thing is beyond me but each to his own.

It just a small thought but these are just the disasters I know were avoided. I suspect it’s entirely likely that as I trail through each day I leave behind me a whole string of ‘near misses’, ‘nearly forgots’ and ‘nearly a nightmare’ situations. Just because I don’t see these doesn’t mean I shouldn’t remember to be grateful for the fact that they didn’t happen and that here I am at the end of another day relatively unscathed.

Help me Lord to remember this when I tempted to be grumpy.