Fiona writes: At the weekend, I had a meeting in London. I arranged to meet my girlfried Alex for a cup of coffee beforehand. We made the arrangements via text, and when my train was pulling into Paddington I thought I’d call to say I was arriving.

My male friend Alex (who I haven’t seen for a couple of years) answered the phone.

At first my brain froze – what was he doing with my friend Alex’s mobile? Had I just dialled the wrong number?

Slowly, the full extent of my foolishness dawned on me. I’d been having a text conversation with the ‘wrong’ Alex. There were two numbers listed under her name, and I’d been using the wrong one. I looked back at our conversation over the past couple of weeks. That explained why there were no kisses on her texts to me!

I did meet Alex & his lovely wife for coffee, & met his gorgeous new son, and I was very glad I did. I got to my meeting on time. I couldn’t stop ruefully grinning at myself for my foolishness.

After the meeting, I gave myself plenty of time to get back to Paddington for my train home. The train left at a quarter to seven – it was engraved into my memory. As my tube was pulling into Paddinton, I checked where I’d written the train times into my diary. Ten past eight! How could it be?

I missed my train by two minutes. It was the last train home that night. My husband Kaspa had to pick me up from a station an hour away from home…

Foolish, foolish being…

“I must learn to love the fool in me – the one who feels too much, talks to much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool.” ~Theodore I. Rubin

Sometimes it’s not easy to love the fool in me, and I’m sure Kaspa would say the same!

But we all have one, and so if I can love my own fool then I can love yours too. Here’s to the fool: *cheers*.

Photo by purplemattfish via Creative Commons, with gratitude.