There is a school that adheres to the aphorism, “measure twice…cut once”; prudent, cautious, careful, patient. I, however, attended the school of “measure once…cut once…oops”. Being impetuous usually resulted in buying the fabric, the two by four, the window glass, the mat board, the souffle ingredients over again.

Compounding the problem (not checking homework was also a manifestation) was another all-too-truism that “the more things change, the more they stay the same” (or, humanizing it…the more we try to change, the more we stay the same.)

The truth of that witch’s brew of impatience and false hope came to mind recently, when a friend, three years divorced after a three-child marriage, thought to enter the dating tangle, using the firewall of a dating web site. She listed the traits of a preferred mate and the traits she ascribed to herself. Surely self-knowledge and life had molded a person of far more sophisticated and subtle passions (this time she would measure twice…cut once).

The computers did their matching, their casting aside, working through the welter of possibly perfect liaisons and did come up with a number one candidate. Respecting anonymity the two were digitally joined by email. And then, reassured, set up an “I’ll be the one with a copy of ‘Leaves of Grass’ meeting” in a guaranteed-to-be-crowded bar.

Of course, she couldn’t understand why her former husband (also still single) showed up at the appointed time with a copy of “Leaves of Grass”.