Sunday, October 24, 2010

this is a CLASSIC 'me' story !!

i had been given a very rare, CHINESE bowl...
Ming dynasty...
as a house gift a few years back....
**i had no idea how valuable it was....
(but i do remember clearly that the guy who gave it to me had TEARS in his eyes as he handed it over !)
LOL  ...that shoulda been the tip-off !
and i had a situation recently where i needed
 extra cash...
so i decided to sell it...
i went to one of the top, auction houses to appraise it,
and lo and behold !!
it was worth FAR more than i had ever imagined  !!
NICE house gift !!
so after mulling it over, i determined to sell it at the establishment where I'd had it appraised, being that they were holding a huge, Chinese auction that month.....
on the morning that i was to take it in, i placed it,
ever so delicately, into a duffel bag and set out walking,
 VERY SLOWLY,
to the auction house...
(rather than taking a cab, for fear something would happen to it)...
it was, after all, only a few blocks...
i walked outside with the bag..
and there was a scaffolding in front of the building across the street....
and for some CRAZY REASON, i swung the bag WAY up in the air as i crossed the street...
and it came down and SLAMMMMED into the steel scaffolding !!!!!
and you, literally, could hear the 'CHA CHING' !!
  of the bowl hitting the steel for miles  !!
it was SO loud and lyrical !!!
( i guess it was lyrical because it was 'GOOD' porcelain....)
and i started CRYING and LAMENTING on the street,
afraid to check the bowl....
afraid to know !
i walked to the auction house,nonetheless,
 and the woman in charge came out to inspect it for scratches , scrapes, etc....(before handing over the cash)....
and  SHOCKER !!, there was, in fact,
 a NEW, 'HAIRLINE' SCRATCH.....
and the bowl that would've brought me over TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS !!
sold for a mere EIGHT ....
i was devastated....
what ON EARTH
had made me swing that thing up in the air  ????

IS IT ALL RELATIVE ?

What makes a traumatic situation real and not somehow sensationalized or exaggerated ? What constitutes real trauma ? Is it all relative ? I...