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Sometimes A Maytag Isn’t Just A Maytag

My brand new marvy Maytag stove inspired this post. 

The stove is stainless steel with a black ceramic surface, convection cooking, a hidden lower cooking element and a steam clean option.  It was born and bred right here in the USA.  It replaces a stove that was new in 1986 when our house was built.  We got our old stove with the house when we bought it in 1993.  It was a coil eye stove and the thing was so old that we couldn't find any eyes that fit properly to replace one that died.  My hubby had reinstalled the upper heating element in the oven a couple of times.  We had more stains than you could count on the lower heating element.  Cleaning meant "Easy Off" fumes and lots of elbow grease. 

The new stove is beautiful and it's expecting a little Maytag friend soon - a stainless dishwasher that should be delivered in early February.  I don't even want to talk about how gross our dishwasher is.  Suffice it to say, the thing was - like our stove- new in 1986, purchased with the house and it is now falling apart - literally. 

I was staring at the stove and thinking about life last night.  See, the stove and dishwasher were purchased with a combination of writing money and the Christmas bonus from my day job. And last night while I stared at it, the little hamster that turns the wheel in my head woke up and commenced running.  When my hamster brain ran hard enough, the light bulb turned on - and I smiled. 

I've always believed that I'd be successful when my fiction writing paid enough to allow me to quit my day job and write full time.  That's still my goal.  I still believe that being a full time author is where I'll be happiest and most fulfilled.  But my stove made me realize that maybe I was committing the same error as our politicans in Congress.  My stove made me realize that compromise doesn't always mean failure - sometimes it's a hallmark of success. 

Like just about everyone everywhere I've had to make a bunch of compromises since the bottom fell out of the economy.  I've had to get to the point where I prioritized bills - the houshold bills first, then my eldest son's college expenses and then everything else.  The everything else means that I pay what I can on everything else and either the companies deal with that or they don't.  And because I grew up in a perienally poor household where I got stuck talking to all those creditors, having a re-run of that era had convinced me that I was a complete failure.  My stove made me realize that wasn't true.

I've reached a point with my day job and my writing where I could get my eldest back to UCF for the Spring Semester of his Junior year and we could replace our ancient stove and dishwasher.  I'm not writing on my fiction full time but I do essentially write full time.  (My day job mainly consists of legal research and writing.) That means that I haven't reached my goal -- but I have progressed on my journey.  

And success isn't measured solely by reaching that one goal.  If I reach it -- when I reach it -- there will be a new goal.  If I don't have goals I have no direction for my life.  So there will always be a goal.  But the goal is only a mile marker - it's not the finish line.  As long as I'm running towards the next marker and making progress, then I'm not a complete failure.  Even if the phone is still ringing and my answering machine is still full of hang up calls, I'm not a complete failure.  I'd only be a complete failure if I failed to try and just threw up my hands. I'd only be a complete failure if I stopped setting goals and heading towards them.

I haven't said "I can't."  I've said, "I haven't gotten there yet."  And I'm still in the race and heading in the right direction.   I've made progress and the next time I doubt that, I'll look at my shiny new stove.  It's a concrete reminder that success isn't a destination - it's a journey.  In our horrendous present economy, many people have been forced to face things they'd rather not, and do things they'd sworn not to.  It would be awfully easy to say - I can't or I won't or I quit.  No matter how tempting it is to throw in the towel, I owe it to myself and my family to continue running along the road, heading for the next mile marker. 

It's important to allow ourselves time to stop and assess when we reach certain plateaus.  The stove might not seem like much to lots of folks, but it means a lot to me.  Success is a very individual thing but certain things about it are common to all of us.  Success is not getting to one place or achieving one thing - it's staying in the race and keeping that towel firmly in hand, ready to wipe sweat from our brows, tears from our eyes --- or sometimes,  just sometimes to wave in a cheer. 

The next time you're in a place where you're thinking of throwing in the towel because you're not where you wanted to be or planned to be, stop and take a look around at where you are.  You may not be at the next mile marker yet, but you're not at the last one either.  Like me, you're on the way. 

Success is a journey.  We may not make the trip the way we planned and we may have to stop and plot a new route.  None of that means we got it wrong.  In fact, all of it means we're getting it right.  Sometimes, along the way, life may throw in an appliance or two. If you look into the stainless steel hard enough, intently enough, your dreams might reflect right back at you.   They're still there - bright and shiny and waiting, just waiting for you to reach out and grab 'em on your way to all your future success. 

See - in the duck lady's house, a Maytag just might turn out to be a crystal ball.