Decades ago, there was a musical called Music Man. The only redeeming thing about that musical was a song that dealt with trouble in River City. In my previous essay, I wrote about my metaphorical trouble in River City. I ordered a computer desk for a special person in my life.

This is what I ordered.

My gift came in two boxes, one completely opened, and both were damaged. I reordered the desk and got one semi-damaged box delivered but no second box. I talked to Lionel, who assisted Amazon’s customers in resolving issues with products ordered on Amazon. Lionel is excellent and caring. He is absolutely into addressing the problems and fixing them. In fact, I was about to reorder my desk for the third time, and he had already ordered it. The problem with my orders was that UPS either damaged the boxes or lost boxes in transit.

Lionel assured me that the two boxes would arrive today. Well, counting on UPS to do things correctly is a stretch. I got one partially damaged box, and the other box is lost in space, probably orbiting the Sun between Earth and Mars like the china teapot.

Tomorrow, Lionel will call me to find out about both boxes finally arrived. He will call UPS again and reorder my computer desk for my close friend. That will be the fourth order. What are the chances of UPS delivering what I ordered over a month ago? Slim to none. More to the point, will I give up? No. I wanted this particular desk for an exceptional person.

However, beyond that, this is a teaching moment. There are two critically important lessons for this special person. I see value in her. I won’t ever settle for anything less than assisting her as she journey’s down her yellow brick road of life.

The second takeaway is a methodology for living life when there are delays and disappointments on her life’s journey. Never give up. She will obtain greatness even though her path has obstacles to overcome.

My father was a major in the army during WWII in the Pacific. When he faced problems during the war or in his life after the war, he would say, “Come hell or high water, that won’t stop me.” Granted. His comment was a bit less poetic way to state that truism, but it made his point not to quit.