+/- M = (P) +/- T

The intensity of a Misfortune has a direct correlation with the Perspective on the Time one has to deal with it. When our roof was leaking in the middle of the night, I heard the drip drip before Joost did. Snuggled up in bed, I gauged that the drips were pretty far apart. It was the middle of the night and I knew this wasn’t the time to repair a roof and we’d have a look at it in the morning. I could accept that and contentedly buried myself deeper under my duvet. In my opinion, the misfortune didn’t seem so great because there was time to deal with it at a more sociable hour. -M = (P) +T

However, when Joost heard the drips, he shot out of bed like a bullet, gnashed his teeth, tore his hair and began stuffing pillows at the problem. For him the situation was dire because there wasn’t the time (in the middle of the night) to fix the problem. His experience of the leaking roof in the night was directly opposite to mine. +M = (P) -T.

Who was right? Well, three days later we’re fixing the problem. Joost rigged up an ingenious scaffolding on the side of the van. Claire scrubs the roof clean and I’m applying gobs of silicone kit and duct tape to the leak area. If I had some bitumen, I would use that too. We’re working in a relaxed and happy way. It’s almost a pleasant craft project and really not such a bad misfortune at all.

However, I must admit that Joost was also right. That night when he calmly invited me to HELP!!! I saw that the dripping was actually much worse than it sounded. In fact, our gallon bucket was almost full by morning. Without his siren response, we would’ve had one wet caravan. So maybe the appropriate equation is J + J = GF (good fortune)