No Sausage Today?

I went to work this morning and, as is my occasional custom , I stopped at the little coffee shop to order my "usual" breakfast sandwich - sausage, egg and cheese on dark rye. A wonderful, cheerful young lady staffed the shop. I bid her a fine good morning and said, " I'd like my ceremonial breakfast sandwich and she said, "Okay, but we don't have sausage today..." I said, "hmmmm... that...well... nevermind," and walked away.

SOMETIMES... I want what I want ! and I wanted the sausage, egg and cheese, and I didn't feel like settling for "the next best thing", because... the next best thing is not what I wanted, and it wouldn't have satisfied the "craving." It might have satisfied the immediate hunger pang, but when it was all over (and eaten) ... that "craving" would have still been nagging me.

I like McDonald's Sausage McMuffin with Egg (there may be a trend, here...). It's my ceremonial travel sandwich. When I go on a road trip, I *always* stop at the first McDonald's I get to, and get a Sausage McMuffin with Egg combo, with the crunchy hash browns and the (now not too bad) medium coffee. As is my custom on the last trip, I stopped at Mickey D's, ordered my sandwich... didn't check it, got down the road about 5 minutes... opened it and... it was an Egg McMuffin --hardly the same thing. I ate it! because it was too much hassle to go back BUT... I still had the craving, so... the very next McDonalds I got to -- 15 minutes later -- guess what? I pulled in, ordered my Sausage McMuffin With Egg... CHECKED IT.... ate it.... ahhhh... was good. MMMMmmmmmm. Satisfied the craving. Of course now, I doubled my carbohydrates and was TOO full -- but the craving was satisfied!

We do that a lot in life! We settle for "close... but no cigar." Good 'nuff ! It's not what I really want, but...it's good 'nuff. We do it for cars (well... they didn't have it in burgundy right now, but the white was good 'nuff...); we do it for houses (I really wanted a two-car garage but...there wasn't one right now), we do it for relationships (well, we don't really talk the way I'd like to, but... it'll come; it's good 'nuff for now...). And while sometimes those decisions are necessary, a lot of times... they are not. And very often -- I dare say most of the time -- the "next best thing" we settle for doesn't satisfy the craving, and now we have TWO problems ! Not only don't we have what we want -- and still have the craving -- but NOW.... we're stuck with the color we didn't want, the house that's in the wrong neighborhood, the nasty sandwich, the unfulfilling job we hate, the spouse we can't really talk to or... whatever else is the case !

Sometimes... it just worth it to wait for -- or work for -- what you want. Sometimes... settling for good 'nuff, is not in your best interest. But those are the decisions we have to make every day.

So, before you settle for good 'nuff next time... be sure that you really need to. Sometimes, good 'nuff is right around the corner from the "real deal." After I settled for that white Hyundai Sante Fe back in 2001... the burgundy one came in the next day :-( I *really* liked the burgundy. Oh well... maybe the next time I buy a car.

Have an awesome day.

Kelvin