Have you ever made a mistake? Not you! I think most people make plenty of mistakes, all the time. I suppose it’s part of being human? Hopefully we learn from our mistakes? My favorite mistake story is a $3.5 million-dollar mistake (might be worth 15 million today). Kind of makes you feel a bit better? Yo-Yo Ma is a world-famous cellist, and he plays a Stradivarius cello, made in 1712 by Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737, Italian luthier) considered to be the greatest violin maker of all time. In his life of 71 years, he created 1000 violins, violas, cellos, guitars and harps. His instruments are known for their tonal magnificence, visual beauty and exceptional craftsmanship. About 650 are in existence today, highly prized; in 2022 one of his violins sold for 15.34 $ million, so you get the idea? In 1999, Yo-Yo Ma performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, on his famous cello, and after the performance, maybe tired? He hailed a taxi to go to his hotel, and placed the cello in the trunk of a New York Yellow cab. When he got to the hotel he got out, the taxi drove off, and shortly thereafter, he realized what had happened and called the police. After a 5-hour manhunt all over the city, the cab was located in a garage in Queens, with the cello still in the trunk. DID he kiss the hands and feet of the taxi driver, give him a reward? Did he thank God for his happy outcome? I hope so!
Once in the 1980s a beautiful, sweet Covington lady was driving to the Atlanta airport to pick up her son, coming cross country for a visit. That day, in a hurry, running late, she grabbed a purse, threw in a tissue, a lipstick, and a cough drop and took off. Flying down I-20, she was stopped, pulled over by a state patrol. Panicking, she tried to talk her way out of a ticket. Then the officer asked for her license and registration.” Ut-Oh, it’s not in my purse, or my glove compartment, it’s at home.” She then proposed to the officer, “Officer, PLEASE don’t give me a ticket, (speeding, no license or registration) $$$, I will donate to a fund-raising ball for state troopers!” Indignant at that proposal, the officer blurted out” state troopers don’t have BALLS!” The moment he said it, he paused…then laughed...then they both laughed.” Ok, no ticket today, a warning, but SLOW DOWN!!!”
A man was hiking in the woods when he had to ‘use the potty’, but out in the woods there was no potty. What will I use for toilet paper? He grabbed big handfuls of nearby fresh green leaves to wipe clean. Little did he know that it was poison ivy, and he was covered in a severe case, in a very private area, treated by my Dad. OUCH
The squirrels in my backyard drive me crazy, tearing up my garden, maiming trees, and eating all of the expensive black oil sunflower seeds, which rightly belongs to my beloved backyard birds. I tried all kinds of baffles, special feeders, suggestions ‘I will tell you exactly how to get rid of squirrels’ etc. I excitedly asked … “How?” … “Quit feeding the birds”. Deflated, I sighed, “No, they’re my joy”. But then I came up with a brilliant idea. If I grease up the tree, the squirrels will slide down this poplar tree and can’t get up to the feeder. So, I purchased a 5 gallon can of Crisco, applied it all around the bark of the tree, the entire circumference, up to 8 feet high. Ha, it did not deter the critters, I think they ate it, and the neighbor’s dog stood on her hind legs to lick as much as she could. A disaster of an experiment, a discolored and greasy tree. A few months later, a swarm of termites came flying out of the tree, and a major part of the protective bark had bowed up with a huge wound 2 feet wide and 4 feet high. Oh NO, I have killed my tree!! I consulted an arborist, “If disease got in the cambium, the tree will die”. OH No, I love that special tree, it’s a beauty, and holds 2 feeders. I cleaned it, sprayed pruning seal, many cans, remulched, talked to it, begged it not to die! Asked for forgiveness “you know I love you, I’m so sorry”! I even considered painting the Virgin of Guadalupe in the open wound! There is a huge black scar on the front of it, and every visitor who sees it asks me “Did you set that tree ON FIRE”? on purpose??” Then I have to explain my ingeniously dumb idea. Luckily, it’s still alive, and I keep babying it, fingers crossed.
Then someone took the expired passport from his safe deposit box, made a connecting flight to Atlanta, went to the international gate, “Sir, this passport expired, cannot fly”. He missed that flight and 3 days of his vacation, had to pay 1,200 $ to expedite a replacement passport, buy a new costly plane ticket, and lose 4 full days of the anticipated vacation. Altogether a $5,000 booboo.
Some costly mistakes, but it’s just us being humans. “To err is human, to forgive divine” (Alexander Pope, 1711) so let’s forgive ourselves???
Carol Veliotis is a local columnist for The Covington News. She can be reached at carol.veliotis@gmail.com.
