Ever have one of those days when you feel like a total loser? When you figure you might as well beat everyone else to the punch and laugh at yourself first? I’ve had plenty and I’ve written about most of them. Still, one of the best stories I’ve ever heard came from a Unitarian Universalist minister, Martha Munson.
Martha was vacationing in Westport, Connecticut one summer and happened to stop in at an ice cream parlor. Who should be sitting there at the counter, drinking a cup of coffee, but Paul Newman. (Yes, that one... the late, great actor.)
Not wanting to be branded a gawking tourist, Martha casually ordered her ice cream to go, paid, got her change from the cashier and turned toward the door, giving a quick smile to Mr. Newman who actually smiled back with those incredible blue eyes! She was the epitome of cool.
Or so she thought.
As she stood out on the sidewalk, she realized she was still holding the change the cashier had given her but was without the ice cream cone. What to do? Should she just walk away? Should she go back in and admit she was too star-struck to pick up her cone?
What the hell… she might as well go back for the ice cream. So what if he thought she was silly?
Martha stepped up to the counter waiting for the server to notice her, all the while hoping Paul Newman wouldn’t notice her. No such luck.
Without missing a beat and without even turning toward her, Mr. Newman addressed her with four short words that would forever haunt her…
“It’s in your purse.”
Gaaagh!
Some days you wish you'd just stayed in bed!
