One of our bathroom door locks broke at work this past week.  No problem, I thought. I headed over to my friendly neighborhood hardware store (Nicholson's) and bought a replacement.  I was eager to fix it

(Read: I still get off on repairing things by myself. Norm Abram is an all-time hero of mine.)

Anyway, I headed back to my restaurant, took out the old lock, and replaced it with the new one.  I was feeling pretty damn proud of myself.  That is, until I cross-threaded the screw hole. "You IDIOT," I said to myself. I couldn't repair the lock at that point. So I drove back to Nicholson's, hat-in-hand, feeling dumb.  When I sheepishly told the guys behind the counter what I did, they just chuckled.  One of them said:

"What...you think you're the first person who's ever done that?!"

The guys in the store then proceeded to tell stories of how they used to mess up threading all the time, and that they still do. I couldn't believe it.  The staff at that store is made up of master carpenters and craftsman.  But rather than make a rookie like me feel stupid for my mishap, they just commiserated with me.

I'll be damned.

Reader, the whole lock fiasco made me remember that the only thing that separates rookies and masters is their ability to make mistakes, learn from them, and keep going.  The pros got to be pros after making error after error.  If you find yourself blundering this week, take heart: each mistake you make is getting you that much closer to mastery.

With that, this rookie is headed to bed.  I'll see you next Monday. -Em