An Almost Interim Type Of Guy

     Monday was the type of day that sums up the way stuff goes for me most of the time.  I finally got the results of the Reader's Digest Contest, and I was not in the top 10.  What that means is that my story was good enough to be considered for a prize and publication, but not quite good enough.  I take consolation that my story was voted into the top 100 though.
     Yesterday I also published a post titled "1000".  The topic, in case you weren't one of the 10 people that read it, was a celebration of my 1000th view of this blog.  The only problem was that by the end of the day, I only ended up with 991 views.  This was just another in my history of coming up just short of my goals.
     I seem to be the guy that always comes in 2nd place, always good enough to get by, but never good enough to win.  Several times in my life I have been an "interim" choir director, or a runner up in contests, those types of things.  That's not to mention that most every time I try to do anything, it never turns out quite like I meant for it to.  I even ran for city council one time, and ended up with 18 votes.  I am proud to say that the man that beat me ended up going on to be Mayor until he retired.

Cousin Virgil

     Thinking about this could really get a guy down, but the more I thought about it, the less it bothered me.  I may never win, but at least I give it a shot, and am in the running.  That has to count for something.  As I write this, The Andy Griffith Show is playing on my television, the one about Cousin Virgil.  If you are a fan of the show like I am, you know the one I am talking about.  Virgil makes a mess out of everything he does, until the end of the show when Virgil saves the day.  Virgil is given the job of cleaning the jailhouse keys, but in the process destroys the keys, with Otis locked in the cell.  Virgil finally tells Andy that he does good, as long as nobody is watching.  When finally given the chance, with nobody watching, Virgil picks the lock and gets Otis out.
     There are worse things than being the runner up, and I take solace in the fact that I am "good enough" most of the time.  Hopefully this story will finally bring me my 1000th view, better late than never.  I have to take the victories however I can get them.