The sweet taste of lemonade

Not long ago I was in a room full of "professionals" who had just seen a presentation of an idea that they in turn would have to give. At the end of it, someone suggested meeting a second time for a practice run. I remember giving the woman one of those incredulous looks.

I believe in preparation all right. But a professional is one who can take an idea and present it after only a mental practice run. (S)He can picture the presentation, the crowd reaction, any activities that might accompany the presentation, and make it come off without a hitch (or fix the hitches as they occur).

The irony is that one part of the presentation dealt with real-world end uses for the theory presented. Life doesn't have practice runs really. At least not like this person was asking for. Life may have some recurring themes so that the second occurrence resembles the first, although not in every aspect, but there are no practice runs. I know that English has the expression that an event "is not someone's first rodeo." But the saying is about experience allowing someone to connect dots better because of similarities in theme. There's never a practice run, though.

I'm still incredulous over the incident. One of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. Astronauts don't get practice runs. In fact, in this movie, based on a true incident, the astronauts take off to go to the moon. They had trained for various scenarios, but their reality was not one of the scenarios practiced. About 15 minutes into the movie, the astronauts experience an oxygen leak. The commander realizes in a very dramatic moment that their trip has just been aborted. After a crescendo of activity there is a silent 3 seconds, then the commander turns to his fellow astronauts and comments, "We just lost the moon!" The rest of the movie was how to get back to earth without any more hitches.

I have learned much from watching a friend and colleague get no practice runs and still produce grand results from facing less than even odds of something coming off without a hitch. It's remarkable to watch - lemonade from lemons every time. All the more remarkable in a world without practice runs. My hat is off in admiration!