Please help me welcome new author and CNY neighbor Sheila Applegate to the Planet of the Blind. Sheila is hosting a virtual book tour, assisted by my wife, Connie, via Authors' Virtual Solutions. In her guest post below, Sheila brings a fresh new perspective to this planet of mine.
Tell me, have you ever had an experience like this? If so, please feel free to share it in a comment below.
Perception
by Sheila Applegate
How we perceive the world around us has everything to do with how we experience this world.
Have you ever been faced with a frustrating situation that no matter how hard you tried to solve there just seemed to be nothing you could do to change it?
Finally there is the moment of surrender in which you give up because you do not know what else to do. Then out of nowhere you are presented with an alternative that you never would have believed possible. A simple change in perspective seems to create an opening for a magical solution.
I experienced this in the middle of an apple orchard on a beautiful autumn day just this past September.
Image: photo taken looking up at branches of an apple tree highlights ripe red apples against a bright blue sky
The leaves were just beginning to change, radiating warm colors against a crisp blue sky. As soon as my kids got home from school, I piled them into the car for our first apple-picking excursion of the season.
We arrived at the orchard just in time to hop onto the wagon for a ride deep into the orchard. My 7 year old niece was with us. She was filled with such excitement that even my teenage children were as giddy and excited as they were when they were her age.
As we arrived at the designated section the tractor driver instructed us to stay within the two red flags, giving us about 5 rows to pick from.
It was a picture perfect day as we picked apples and nibbled on a few as we went. My kids showed their younger cousin how to take a bite of an apple while it remained on the tree, a favorite prank their dad had taught them when they were young.
It was a perfect afternoon.
Once our bags were full we piled them onto the wagon and climbed up for the ride back to the parking lot. By now we were hot, thirsty and ready to head home. I reached into my pocket for my keys, only to find an empty pocket. After a long search at the car we all piled back onto the wagon, explaining to the perplexed driver why we were heading back into the orchard.
This time, as he told the newly arriving apple pickers to stay in between the flags he also announced to the group that we had lost a set of keys, asking people to keep their eyes out for them.
Walking up and down the lanes of trees over and over we could not find the keys anywhere. Wagonloads of people came and went. Each new group was instructed to keep an eye out for our lost keys.
Nothing.
The kids reached their limit. So I called for help. My sister came to drive the children home. My friend brought me the spare key I had at home. Unfortunately, the spare key did not have a computer chip and was limited to opening the doors. So it was of no use in starting the car.
A call to AAA informed me that a locksmith would be sent to the orchard to make a new key for a mere $200! My bagful of fresh apples was starting to look very expensive!
As my friend and I waited for the locksmith we decided to walk into the now-closed orchard for one more look. My friend threw his keys onto the ground in front of me. Pointing out how easily it should be to see my lost keys in the grass
I was shocked. As the search had drawn out for so long, I was now starting to feel like I was looking for a needle in a haystack. How on earth could I be missing something so easy to spot?
We reached the familiar red flagged area and as my friend began his search I felt like I was past my limit.
The thought of walking down this same grassy tree line again gave me a stomachache. It was as if I could not look for one second longer.
Then I heard a voice from within, "change your perspective".
A little intrigued, I lifted my gaze from the muddy earth and once again noticed the incredible view of the horizon that had filled me with such surrendered joy only a few hours earlier.
I felt my body begin to relax. As I scanned the horizon, breathing the beauty in for the first time in hours, I suddenly caught the shimmering silver of my keys!
They were chest high, hanging on a branch, five trees away from where I stood, deeper into the orchard than I even believe I had gone!
I actually paused before going to them as my brain recalculated the impossible.
There is still no logical answer for how those keys got into that tree. Everyone has his or her own idea of how this happened. Not one of them seems logical.
Sometimes the miracles of life are just beyond the rules of logic.
When we change our perspective, we just might let a little magic into our life!
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TAKE NOTE (if I may be so bold)! PLEASE… Share your thoughts and comments below and to show my appreciation and support I am making this special offer (in addition to the raffle contest offer above!). (Click all links for details).
Thank You Steve for having me as a guest on The Planet of the Blind. It is an honor to share my thoughts with your readers.
Posted by: Sheila Applegate | January 09, 2013 at 12:19 PM