Fortune
Before I headed off to the airport today, my wife, my oldest daughter, and I stopped by PF Chang’s for lunch before we took the 70 mile drive to drop me off for my next trip. Sticking to form, we all ordered what we typically order – lettuce wraps for the daughter, crispy honey shrimp for the wife (wasn’t crispy at all), and the humongous bowl of wonton soup for me. We waited patiently for what seemed like an eternity to get our food, and the waiter even stopped by at one point and said, “I’m sorry about the wait but our kitchen got annihilated!” Not a one of us wanted to ask any further questions preferring to think they were just busy.
When the food arrived, we enjoyed the lunch and then anxiously awaited the fortune cookies. OK – we didn’t really anxiously wait, but don’t you get that twinge of anxiety when you see the server approaching with the bill and those plastic wrapped fortune cookies as well? I sure do. I’m very interested in knowing what lies ahead for me, and I can’t think of anything more accurate than that fortune cookie.
So, we each grabbed for one, and here’s what the fortunes entailed:
Daughter – “You are going to be a winner.”
Wife – “You will have a highly profitable financial transaction soon.”
Me – “You will be called to fill a position of high honor and responsibility.”
My daughter thought hers was pretty lame – not enough specificity I guess. When my wife read hers, my daughter popped off with, “what are you a prostitute?” I got a chuckle out of that, but I was more worried that her fortune might have to do with my life insurance policy and that didn’t really appeal to me that her financial upswing may indeed come from my personal demise. For me, I immediately thought about several things that could be a “high calling”, to include the priesthood, government service, politics and even a higher calling in business. Any or all would be interestingly appealing to me, but each has it’s own unique challenges:
    — Priesthood – as my daughter quickly pointed out I’d have trouble overcoming my 25 years of marriage; can you get an annulment after 25 years of marriage bliss?
    — Government Service – although my heart would bend towards doing my duty in support of our government, I have no patience for bureaucracy and no real desire to sit down in front of Congress and try to explain why the “system” didn’t respond in a way that actually solved a problem
    – Politics – this one is truly enticing and I’ve often thought about running for public office; I get as far as the campaign and I envision the microphone shoved in front of my wife’s face and a reporter asks what she thinks of me, and the answer goes something like this – “It’s pretty fun living with the butthead, but I can’t understand why he wants to be governor.” I’d also be challenged by my son, who has stated in the past when asked if he’d vote for me, “depends who you’re running against.” And I’d be challenged (or at least financially exploited) by my oldest daughter who when asked the same question said, “I can be bought.”
    — Higher Calling in Business – this one is the most likely fortune proving path (of these 4) and probably what most of us dream about; with me, it’s not as much a dream as a deep desire to do more in different roles; I’m not sure what the perfect role would be, but it’s almost always not what I’m doing today; that’s a tough challenge that I always face
So I’ll keep thinking about my fortune and waiting anxiously for that higher calling – it has to happen – the fortune cookie is never wrong!