Ask and Ye Shall Receive: The Flip Side

Indeed: I have asked, and I have received. This time, however, I was on the other side of the exchange.

It centered around a chiropractic appointment.

I would call myself a "giver," except that I didn't really give anything. Rather, all I did is show up early for this particular appointment. And, even then, my reasons for doing so were wholly selfish: when the day came, it just worked better for me to get my adjustment at 10:00 AM instead of the appointed time of 11:00 (due to a million little unforeseen logistics, and the other things that life can throw at us on any given day). I almost called to see if I could bump up the appointment, but I had to literally pass right by the chiropractor's after leaving my hotel; it made sense to just drop in and see if the doctor might happen to be free.

That was the extent of my "giving": a selfish, and somewhat importunate, early arrival at my chiropractor's. Yet, "giving" it very well proved to be.

In my chiropractor's office, the man's eyes lit up as soon as he saw me. And then, after I explained why I was early, a smile opened across his whole face, of the bright, beaming variety that you just can't fake. "I love how the universe works," he said then, and proceeded to explain that he had just been hoping that I would come in at 10:00 instead of 11:00. See, he had mistakenly double-booked the 11:00 time slot.

I laughed. He laughed. I got my adjustment at a convenient time, and my chiropractor's scheduling dilemma was nullified in the bargain. Win-win.

If this is "giving," I like it.