Silver linings

I dropped my hubby and a mate off at Indy today. The Indy race that is now minus the Indy cars, thanks to some stuff up or other.

I hope he's enjoying the racing (not to mention the balcony shows!) and hospitality of the corporate box. I really do, he works his cute little butt off doing two jobs AND helps where he can with GG, and deserves to have some quality bloke time. And I bet he will, because whoever it is that organises Indy (why, yes, I am a massive motorsport fan, and am clearly up on all the details), seems to have done a pretty good job of cobbling together some great car action.

Which leads me, eventually, to my point. Sometimes the things that seem to have gone wrong, turn out better than the original would of been. It made me think of GG's last birthday party, an Island Princesses and Pirates themed party where I had organised a girlfriend who is very creative and artistic to come along and do some face-painting for GG and her little friends, ranging from 1 to eleven. Well, long story short - she forgot the face paint. She had, however, had her fourth child a few weeks previous, so I'm pretty sure that's an instant 'forgiven' in anyone's book.

So... a bunch of kids, and no fun thing they'd been promised. Deep breath. For about 3 seconds there I just wanted to swear, a lot. Then, I went to a hastily assembled Plan B. I got some adults to corral the kids in a bedroom on some pretext or other, grabbed a bowl of shells I have on display, threw them in random places all over the yard. Then I grabbed all the leftover party favours, lollies, leftover Easter eggs, anything - I think I even grabbed muesli bars.

Then we told all the kids that anyone who brought back a shell got a prize and a lolly. It was awesome. Their eyes lit up, and they raced off to find their shells. Older kids helped the little ones of their own volition, which was really charming. Toddlers came to claim their prize with victory in their hearts. Much better than face-painting.

So next time things so pear-shaped, I'm going to think of it as an opportunity to experience something better, rather than an opportunity to teach my daughter some of the more colourful aspects of our language.