Sometimes, it just doesn't work!

The journalling on this layout reads: Sometimes, however hard you try, however patient you are - things just don't turn out the way you want them to! But, that shouldn't stop you from trying.

This works for me on a couple of levels,

1. This series of photos was taken while my cat, David, was desperately trying to get my next door neighbour, whose leg you can see in the photo, to make a fuss of him - it didn't happen!

2. I have been trying for years, literally, to get a photo of David in all his glory - he really is a beautiful and elegant cat, and he has a wonderful pose - reminiscent of the egyptian Bast cat. The wretched cat is just not having any of it! Every time he sees the camera, he does anything but elegant - most times he just does the melted cat thing - kind of slumps into a puddle of fur - not good for photographic purposes...

Of course, there is a much more serious side to this - we're all familiar with the old saw - If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. This gives the impression that if you try enough, it will happen! Unfortunately, this is real life and it doesn't always happen the way we want it to - however many times we try! However, knowing that might incline us to give up - if it isn't going to work anyway, why should I keep trying? - the problem with that, is that we never know in advance which things will work and which won't. It's even likely that things may not work out the way you had hoped/planned, but the end result is just as good - perhaps in a different way. We really should make the effort to look for the lessons in everything we do - when we stop trying, we stop living!