Get Ready, Get Set, Go! These words stir
thoughts of a thrilling competition. I don’t consider myself an athlete by any
stretch of the definition. But, at the times in my life that I’ve heard these
words, I enjoyed that moment in the starting blocks. Very rarely did I cross
the finish line ahead of everyone else. But at the beginning, there was that
exhilarating feeling of possibility, the chance that if I really did my best, I
could excel.
The military term for this moment is “At
the Ready”. It implies more than just standing with your toe behind the line
and waiting for a gunshot. Being ready takes planning, conditioning, and being
aware of your surroundings.
In
years past, I played tennis. The posture you must assume for that game involves
every part of your body being ready to move. Feet and legs tense, arms and
hands flexible, eyes darting from side to side. Anticipation is the watchword.
Most recently, I have played tennis in my living room, with the help of a video
game system. This requires even more awareness. Movements need not be so large,
especially if you treasure that lamp on the end table.
The feeling of being prepared for anything
has served me well in other areas of my life. Anyone who has raised more than
two children at a time can tell you that the addition of the third one changes
the whole vibe of parenthood. With a pair of offspring, a team of adults can
divide the duties, or when necessary, manage both charges reasonably easily.
With only two eyes, two ears, two hands each, it is much more difficult to
shepherd three. My hubby and I would divide the threesome by age: “You watch the big-un, and I’ll take the
littluns” or by gender: “The princess is
with me. You’re in charge of the boys.”
Moms become very good at multi-tasking. We
have to be make three different sack lunches, load three backpacks, locate
three band instruments, all while monitoring wardrobes as they head out the
door for the day’s adventure. A sixth sense kicks in when there is a
disturbance in the force. Nothing
surprises us. A case in point, I was standing at the back of the sanctuary one
Sunday, right hand outstretched to greet the minister when a sticky, slimy glob
landed in the palm of my hand. As a tousled head passed between us, I smoothly
replaced the hand that had become the receptacle for leftover chewing gum with
the other, fresher hand. All’s well that ends well.
Evidently, our whole family appreciates
this sensation of alert flexibility. Hubby is enjoying a new job after 34 years
of becoming accustomed to the old one. All three nest leavers are thriving in
their own, ever changing environments.
A benefit of my previous career is that I
count myself as a relatively tech-savvy baby boomer. Having witnessed the
transition from piles of paper and banks of filing cabinets to computer based,
and even wireless data storage, I’m not nearly as intimidated by the inevitable
changes.
One highlight of that career found me in
Baltimore, Maryland, where we were to explain our system to totally blind users. My co-workers
and I had spent months becoming acquainted with software that reads the screens
aloud. We were confident that we could guide these people who were unfamiliar
with our system and assure them that other users would be successful as well.
Surprise! The students actually schooled the teachers. They were so proficient at using this tool
that they pointed out features of the software that we never knew existed.
Undaunted, we drew on the long hours of preparation, and addressed each issue.
Upon returning to Arkansas, no computer glitch would ever again get the best of
us!
So it was with confidence that I undertook
my latest “day job”. I serve as a trainer in an area that has never had one. No
permanent classroom, no desk manual. I am drawing on the expertise of those who
know the system inside and out to teach others who are totally new. With my
“user eyes” I’m distilling the wealth of knowledge into a usable form, and
trying to dispense it at just the right rate. I tell my newbies that I am their
“go-to” person, because I know who to go to.
At this stage in life, I thought I would be
relaxing more, spending time doing comfortable, familiar things. Realistically,
though, very little about life these days is comfortable or familiar. Change
comes so rapidly that our heads are often spinning. That’s really okay.
Learning new things never ends, and we must constantly be aware of our
surroundings. It keeps us alert, flexible, young. I’m thankful I don’t have to
do it alone. With my soul mate by my side, and God’s word to keep me grounded,
I’m ready.
