Which would you choose?

“Pops by the Sea.” For 20+ years now, the Boston Pops Orchestra has been coming to Cape Cod each August for an outdoor concert. It’s a pleasure listening to their music, even better having it outdoors. And with only a 12 mile drive and $15 tickets, a great deal. The village green in Hyannis offers probably an acre of lovely grass, criss-crossed with brick walkways, and dotted by 100+ year old sycamores and beeches, creating a rather pleasant place to sit and enjoy, even in “downtown” Hyannis. I arrived early, as the lawn usually fills well before concert time. Afternoon entertainment fills the gaps. I sat in my camp chair and enjoyed the scene, the music, a sense of community, and the time outdoors. The Pops put on a good show, as I have come to expect and appreciate.

“Deluge by the Sea.” Advertised as a “rain or shine” event, and despite some morning showers, no one could have expected that to arrive early for an outdoor concert would result in sitting for three hours in an unrelenting, wind-driven, torrential rain. Although the fleece and Gore-tex would have kept me dry until next Thursday, it only “works” where it covers, which for me was from the waist up. Mired in a pool of water in my camp chair and now surrounded by what appears to be Lake Hyannis, I find myself nearly alone, as other potential concert-goers show up, then give up, time after time leaving me a “clear view” … of the rain. By the time the concert was to start, I’d wrung out my towel over a dozen times, cleaning up by seeing thru the slit I’d created between rain hat and jacket zipper.

Both stories are 100% true. Both describe the same event .. yesterday’s concert. Had this been you, which story would you choose to tell? In listening to others through the course of the afternoon, I saw clearly how two (perhaps many more) versions of the same story might be told. I also saw clearly how which version “wins” is a personal choice. I had a great day. Others, I suspect, saw it in a different way. Yet it was the same day and the same event. Which one would you choose? For any of your day’s little events, which story do you tell?  How does the “story you tell” serve to create the experience you have and the person you become?

By the way, I conducted a little experiment while I was there. I was sitting under a huge beech tree (which, by the way, conferred no appreciable advantage against the rain), and beside me was a paved walkway which was flooded, with water spreading well into the grass on both sides. The results of my experiment show that a vast majority of people believe if they walk gingerly thru ankle-deep water that they will somehow be less wet than if they walk normally. Curious. The Pops didn’t provide all the entertainment.