TOO MUCH CONFIDENCE

You know what my problem is??? I have too much confidence!!! Too much confidence in myself and my abilities.

When I was a little girl, my Mother had to keep a close eye on me. I wasn’t a sweet little girl. I was always, ALWAYS, up to SOMETHING… And, I was CONFIDENT that Mother did not know best… So, I didn’t always listen. My Mother called me a “know-it-all”. I thought it was her way of validating me. LOL…NOT…

Back in the day, they called me a “Tomboy”… I guess that expression has fallen by the wayside… Now, I suppose people would say that I was “expressing myself”… "hyperactive"… or a"(fill in the blank) challenged" child…

I was the one who jumped off the roof of the chicken coop first. I was the one who took new routes home from school when I knew I was supposed to walk the same route always.

In school, I was the kid who listened in class and didn’t have to study to pass. When I finally decided maybe I ought to learn how to study, I aced everything and graduated with honors.

When I learned to drive, I was so confident that once I got the basics down, I was ready for solo driving… Dad didn’t think so, but I had CONFIDENCE…

My confidence served me well, but not always. My confidence got me in trouble at times. I am a jump-right-into-it kind of gal. I have begun things without reading the directions. I have extraordinary CONFIDENCE that I can figure things out. And, usually I do…

Sometimes things have gone bad because of over confidence… And a few times, VERY BAD!!! Like the time I knew-it-all enough to take Dad’s speed boat out of the slip. Yeah…I knew how to drive it. I learned the same way I learned a lot of things… I watched and listened. I watched Dad drive. That is why I was pretty sure I could drive a car when I was 6 years old… But that is another story for another time...

Well, one bright sunny day, I “borrowed” Dad’s speedboat. I was cruising along the inlet, completely enjoying the day. The wind was whipping my hair into salty strands and I could taste the salty mist on my lips. The day was a perfect combination of warmth and breeze... Yes!!!

Driving the little speed boat was easy…. And I was CONFIDENT that Dad would never know I slipped his little boat out of it’s slip for this wonderful joy-ride…. I was chuckling to myself and admiring all of my clever “smartness” when I realized I was on collision course with a much larger boat.

Oh my!!! That is when I discovered that boats don’t have brakes…

Well, as you can see, I lived to tell about it… I thought Dad might consider killing me, but once again, I was CONFIDENT that he still loved me… Even after the boating “incident”…