While in college in New Orleans, I lived with my best friend, Mike Burnett, in a basement apartment. One night before drifting off to sleep, I heard the rain outside coming down in sheets. I felt very happy to be in a dry and comfortable bed.
My next conscious thoughts were of my bed shaking. Upon opening my eyes, I saw Mike standing at the foot of my bed and heard his voice, “Bill, wake up, wake up!”
“Okay — what’s going on?” I groggily replied. Mike then said the most confusing thing to me, “Can I get on the bed with you?” I was fully awake now.
I knew Mike like my brother, so I knew he wasn’t suddenly attracted to me in a way I was unaware of before now. Even so, I had to dig deeper. “Why?” I asked. He said, “Why? Put your hand over the side of the bed!”
I rolled over and my hand plunged into cold water. It had rained twelve inches overnight and we had a foot and a half of water in our apartment. Mike’s bed consisted of a mattress on the floor, so he had been flooded out of his warm cocoon. Soaking wet, he knew my bed included a frame and was off the floor, high and dry. Mike is no dummy. He wanted a piece of it.
Understanding the situation, I welcomed Mike onto my “raft”…BIG mistake. With our combined weights totaling 500 pounds, the sagging bed soon became a huge sponge. Moments later, I was as soaked as the big wet rat that had just climbed on.
Still dark outside with no electricity, there was nothing to do but lay there…cussing under our breath, waiting for the sun to come up. I suppose we hoped daylight would shed some light on what to do next.
At dawn’s first light, everything in sight was under water. Suddenly, Mike and I remembered our dogs, Max and Jet! We hadn’t heard a peep from either one. Immediately our concern for them became intense and frantic.
Jet was a Labrador retriever puppy and Max was a ninety-pound mutt. Since Jet was still being house-trained, he spent nights in the laundry room; he’s the first one we went after. Upon opening the laundry room door, there he was with his eyes and nose barely above water. He had a wide-eyed look of panic, which changed to immediate relief once he saw Mike’s outstretched arms.
Now it was time to find Max. There was no sight or sound of him anywhere. We searched to no avail and became very worried about how we would find him. Relief came when I stuck my head in the last place Max could be, the bathroom.
There he was, hunkered down in the only remaining dry place in the entire apartment, the bathtub. The water had risen to within an inch from the top of the tub. As Max switched glances between the water and me, he had the same incredulous look I’m sure I did when Mike first requested some space on my bed.
Before leaving to find refuge, we lifted Max and Jet onto a reinforced ping-pong table. After pulling the front door closed, I looked through the window to make sure they were still okay, just in time to see Jet fall into the water.
When we opened the door to rescue him, we realized Jet hadn’t fallen off the table. A duck decoy had floated out of a closet. Jet didn’t know how to swim, but he also had never seen a duck before…and instinctively, he wanted it. So, he had jumped off the table and was swimming like a champion toward his heart’s desire!
Years later, Mike and I still find great humor in our memories of “the night when the water came.”
Our experience holds powerful insights for success in leading change, conquering adversity, rising above challenges, and finding happiness and inspiration. When adverse and changing flood-waters rise up in your life, you have three choices:
Choice #1: You can be like Mike and find a friend to involve in your misery.
Choice #2: You can be like Max and retreat to higher ground, silently wishing and hoping your challenge goes away.
Choice #3: You can be like Jet; you can learn how to swim and focus on and pursue something that makes your heart sing!
Copyright 2007
This article content is from Bill Dyer’s Award-Winning Book,
How To Bounce Back And Be Happy When Life Blows You Down.
The award-winning book is available at: http://www.bouncebackandbehappy.com
FREE info on “257 Ways To Appreciate This Moment And Create A Life You Love”, is also available at the above website by scrolling down to the Time-Out box.
Bill Dyer
Professional Speaker/Award-Winning Author
http://www.billdyer.com
336-379-0777
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