Life is a constant learning experience. I l know that. It doesn’t help to bemoan that which didn’t happen. I know that, too. But sometimes that which you missed or, more appropriately, were told wasn’t real, weighs heavily on you because you know you came out on the short end of the stick.

The good part about that, however, is that it simmers. Or, for those of us born shortly after Noah got off the ark, it percolates.

The old Maxwell House “good to the last drop” coffee commercials comes to mind.

As the coffee heats up, the percolator perks the aromatic blend up into the little see-through bulb. The sound and the smell combine to create an anticipation of the taste, even if you don’t like coffee. Images of my grandmother in the kitchen on dark and cold winter morns while visiting her flash through my mind. The sound, the smell, the house, it created an indelible image that made me feel special and loved. Being up before my siblings and the sun made it even more special.

That is what perking is about. Taking something, letting it heat up and turning it into something even better.

So, while I bemoan what I missed or what was told to me wrongly, I suppose I’m now wise enough to know that when I finally discover “it” or what “it” really is, it has a greater intensity than had that not happened.

I wonder if Jesus was the inventor of those Maxwell House commercials?