Monday, February 25, 2013

Murphy's Law

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
My wife is a closet pessimist. She seems positive most of the time, but she has this irritating habit of calling tiny incidents “Murphy’s Law.” It’s harmless but it drives me nuts. I always know when it’s coming. We will be driving across flat, empty Texas for hours without seeing another vehicle and just when I come to a narrow bridge I will pass a semi-trailer. I hear from the passenger seat, “Murphy’s Law.” The dump station will be empty all morning as we prepare to leave a campground and just as I pull up to dump, someone else will pull in ahead of me. Again, I hear from the passenger seat, “Murphy’s Law.” The examples go on and on. I just can’t take it any longer. Do you think there really is a “Murphy’s Law?” Is there any way of breaking “Murphy’s Law?” I just can’t take wave after wave of Murphy. Please help me.
 --Murph the Surf in Medford

Dear Murph:
I think it is called the law of averages. It’s the glass half full - half empty syndrome. Why not make a game out of it. You seem to know when it’s coming, beat her to the punch. Every time you cross a narrow bridge and do not meet another vehicle, ask her “what happened to Murphy?” When you arrive at the dump station and have it all to yourself, tell her Murphy must not have to dump today. It might be fun to keep score and see how often Murphy actually rears his ugly head. If this is your only problem traveling together, I think you are doing just fine. If you pull into a campground and the last site has just been taken by the RV in front of you, well, that’s just “Murphy’s Law.”
--Keep Smilin', Dr. R.V. Shrink

##RVT845

2 comments:

Richard Pawlowski said...

Just FYI - Murphy's Law is actually, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong"..

Anonymous said...

Murphy's law is "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Walsh's law is "Murphy is an optimist most of the time".