I am about to tell you a story. The names have been changed to protect myself. I think I would get beat up if I revealed who this happened to. The following story is true and it is gag nasty.
My friend was flying on an air plane when they got a little air sick. Now for this story we will call this friend Enrique. I don’t know any Enrique’s personally so I think that name is a safe bet. Anyway Enrique got air sick and what happened next is unfathomable to me. I cringe just thinking about it.
Enrique got sick and I guess didn’t have time to pull out the puke bag that airlines provide for you. Instead, Enrique puked all over his shirt and his man bag. Some would call this a purse but since the names and gender has been changed it will be a man bag, or murse (man purse) if you will.
Now this happened early in the flight so Enrique had to fly for hours with puke all over them. I personally would have asked to borrow someone’s clothes or just jumped out the plane from sheer embarrassment. No amount of wet wipes and napkins could clean Enrique up during the flight. And the smell…don’t get me started on the smell.
Because Enrique’s bags were on the plane when he landed he had to go to the first airport store he could find and buy an extremely overpriced tourist t-shirt. He couldn’t shower because he had a layover. It would be hours before he could officially wash off. Gag nasty!
Now I can’t fathom this happening. I have never puked. I’ve never hugged a toilet. I’ve never even been sick to my stomach. I would not be prepared for something like this. From now on though I think I might pack an extra shirt in my carry on bag just in case.
I don’t think through getting sick to my stomach in public because I’ve never experienced it.
Experience leads to preparedness.
Many people don’t want to experience pain or failure. We’d rather play it safe. The truth is that every person who has ever achieved anything worth talking about has failed and then learned from their failures.
We are so afraid to fail that we often allow our dreams to die, we miss experiences, and we miss out on adventure. I’ve failed gloriously. My failures are how I learn. The next time I do the exact same thing I do it better than before. I’ve told jokes in front of large crowds that bombed drastically. You better believe the next time I spoke I learned from that failure and told a better joke. I got reamed out by a parent for a mistake I made while taking students to summer camp. You better believe that I learned from that mistake. I’ve written blog posts that were so bad they stinketh. I’m talking Old Testament King James stinketh.
The point is that our experiences lead to being prepared. I hate failing but greatness requires it. Greatness requires failing and then quickly learning from your failure. It’s that failing experience that will lead to you being better prepared in the future. I’m scared to death to try new things. I’m scared of failing. But you want to know what? I’m more scared of missing out on life.
So I am going to fail and it will be as glorious as puking on yourself and sitting in that puke for hours while on an airplane. I’m going to fail, but I’m not going to allow the fear of failing to stop me from experiencing the life God has for me.
Are you afraid of failing? What’s the best puke story you know?
Fantastic words Rob, I love it. I hate failure just as much as the next guy and ride myself when I do. Fortunately I realize that thanks to it I’ve become a better person. I just hope my failures don’t mess up anything too important or permanent.
P.S. I’m pretty sure I just made the first comment. Now earlier, as you may remember, I had tried to do this ,but was beaten out by mere seconds by an early riser. This only proves that with failure can come the steps to success.
Failure: Not getting the first comment and having embarrassingly claimed mine was the first in the comment.
Results: Don’t say I’m the first in my comment and don’t double check whether my comment is still first before posting.
Sean, way to learn. Although to me your mistake wasn’t embarrassing. I loved that you set a goal and were trying to achieve. And then, as you said, you learned from it. Thanks for waking early and leaving a comment.
Oops, forgot my puke story. The best I’ve got is that I was in life science I think and we were reading a book, or rather the teacher was reading it. It was something that was really gross apparently, but I can’t remember for the life of me what it was. This book had a record of mega-grossing people out and, as one kid in our class discovered first-hand, even made people puke. The teacher was bringing the story in this one last time, but after the kid puked she and the other teachers decided it best to set the book aside.
Sean, nice. story.
One of the best books I ever read was John Maxwell’s Failing Forward. It changed how I looked at failure.
Larry, I haven’t read that one. I thought all of John’s books were titled 21 something or other. I kid, I kid.
I have failed, no make that bombed, in the past. i wish i could say I learned from that failure but that would be a lie. I would make the same stupid mistake over and over. Then one day it hit me (takes a while): “Hey dimwit, change the action. Change the response time. Think things through.” i still fail but hopefully learn from it. All that to say: am i afraid to fail? No. It seems to follow me naturally. 🙂 As for the puke story: none. I prefer not to even think about any. If someone pukes and i get a whiff of it, it is all i can do not to join them.
Bill, one of the most convicting quotes I heard is what Dave Ramsey says about insanity. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It’s convicting because I do the same stupid mistake over and over again. Thanks for the comment.
These early morning risers are intense… I am afraid of failing, sometimes I’m afraid of just doing. I puked in the hall of my high school once, best story I know about puke.
I’m afraid of failing and succeeding. I do both regularly. I’m not paralyzed in my fears. I’ve learned to push through the fear because years of experience have taught me I can do more than I think I can and WHEN I fail, I always learn valuable lessons. ‘Failure is not an option’ is a mantra, a mind set that can help with reaching goals BUT failure is ALWAYS possible.
As for puking, my tummy is still a little sensitive from reading your puke story.
Side note: I ALWAYS carry a spare set of clothes in my carry-on when flying. That’s because I don’t usually check luggage. I like to travel light.
Second side note: I’ve never met anyone who’s never puked. No wonder you’re a super hero. Do you have any cavities? I’ve only met one person who didn’t have any cavities.
Barb, it’s funny you should ask about cavities. I don’t have any cavities. I am going bald though so not everything is super. I kid, I kid.
No cavities and never puked. Intrigued, I am. Have you ever cracked an egg and found two yokes?
The going bald thing… me too and maybe it’s vanity speaking but it’s harder for women. Not kidding but dealing fine. ; )
Barb, now I have never cracked an egg and found two yokes. You have now given me a new goal.
Just cracked an egg with two yokes. 😉
Ryan, the early risers are pretty awesome. I’m with you on being afraid. I’m scared. Oh and I want to hear the rest of that puke story. Sounds glorious.
The thing about us early risers is we have something to do. I have school, others have work, some have pets, and everyone else who is an early riser and doesn’t have something like that, the reason why they’re awake is because your blog is amazing. Like I’ve said in an earlier date, thanks to you, we get Church 6 days a week.
Sean, thanks. I appreciate you waking up so early and commenting. You are a blessing.
Rob, good preachin’ here, boy howdy. I have puked and it is absolutely horrible. Everything stinks and burns and you can’t breathe. Children stop and stare, and then they point and laugh. I have never puked on a plane though. One time I came VERY close. I was on a plane the size of a shoe box. The weather/turbulence was ghastly. The only way I got through was to sing the song “Luka” by Suzanne Vega softly to myself over and over. I know it doesn’t sound manly, but in that moment I feared not only blowing chunks, but the plane crashing into the ground, hard.
Daniel, I don’t even know what Luka is but it made me laugh. Thanks for that.
I fail often… daily as a matter of fact, I do things wrong, I say things wrong – it is just a way of life and this is not a joke. I think we all fail DAILY, somehow we come up short… I am NOT afraid to fail ! I think by failing that is the only way we learn, we improve, we better ourselves… so in all honesty I don’t consider failing a failure… not recognizing your mistakes and acting on them would be failure, kind of like getting up to tell the joke and not getting the reception you expected and running off the stage to never try again, that would be failure. We need to pick ourselves up and go at it again or a different way, I don’t consider them ” failures ” but rather opportunities. My embarassing ” puke ” story… I was on a flight home from Orlando and passed out on the plane on the runway… the plane had to return to the gate where I was greeted by an ambulance and paramedics… come to find out I was just severely dehydrated, but I was extremly embarassed that the entire flight was delayed because of me.
Brian, no way. That story is amazing. There is a sermon illustration just dying to come out of your story.
Good Morning Robshep.com (said in the Robin Williams Good Morning Vietnam voice) lol anyways As far as failure my dad always described life in this manner. Each choice/decision that is made in life is like a steeping stone. We will call these the stepping stones of life. If you fall off one or fail you get back up, brush yourself off and learn from that failure and go onto the next stepping stone. Now unfortunately I am quite bruised from falling/failing but the good news is I have learned from my mistakes and they have been apart of what makes me, Me!
Now as for a puke story: Hold onto your stomach
When I was 14 I was diagnosed with Leukemia. We lived in Northern Michigan and got sent to U of M hospital in Ann Arbor which was down state. When we got to the point where I could do outpatient treatment we would drive the 300some miles downstate on Friday evening to sit in clinic most of Saturday. I’d get my chemo, radiation or if I was lucky I’d get them both in one day : ) But usually on the way home my parents would stop at McDonalds & get me a Big Mac & fries (my treat for doing good) On this particular ride home I got sick maybe half way home. And when I did I had had nothing to drink and it came up tubular. We always kept a barf bucket(the pretty golden yellow or pink ones you get from the hospital.) under the seat for the “just in case” which was all of the time. Now I told you to hold onto your stomach and you asked for the puke story. I’m just sayin’ 🙂
Amy, I like the way you say robshep.com. Praise God that you no longer have Leukemia and that you parents had a barf bucket. Wow.
I am afraid of failing. Most people wouldn’t know this about me. The major area in my life would be parenting. I see parents all the time who have grown kids that wished they had done a better job. I never want to have that feeling. Being a good husband and father are top on my list of afraid to fail at, but there is no way I am gonna allow myself to list.
Now, puke story. You ready for this. So, back when I was a straight up wild away from God wayward drunk, I was at a party with some friends. One of my friends and this girl starting kissing, and yep you guessed it, ….I am sorry for even posting this, she puked in his mouth!!!!!! I totally understand if you remove this comment..lol. Man, I am sick just thinking about it. I mean what in the world??? How do you react when that happens. I vaguely remember the look on my friends face..but I guess you can say he looked like someone just puked in his mouth..
Joseph, 2 things. 1. That story was glorious. 2. I’m afraid of that as well. The parenting thing…not the puke in the mouth.
Message today reminds me of 2 quotes that have become part of my own philosophy: The first is by Chuck Swindoll,
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
The next is by Josh Billings,
“Life is like a grindstone, and whether it grinds a man down or polishes him up, depends on the stuff he is made of.”
Puke–messy, inconvenient, nasty, but insignificant “small stuff” in regard to life’s challenges. Words that come out of a person’s mouth can be far more damaging and don’t clean up nearly as well.
I am a huge Chuck Swindoll fan. I love his quotes. It was really profound how you used the last half of your comment. That could be a quote in itself.
Mim, I love the analogy at the end. That could be a whole other blog post.
I hate failing at things, and try to avoid it at all costs- but am realistic is knowing that we’re all human and it will happen at some point, and likely over and over again!
Best puke story- we’ll also keep the person nameless….
A few New Years Eves back- a friend of our had way too much to drink and started throwing up. His wife was with him at the toilet helping him contain the mess he was making. He looked up at her and said with a straight face, ‘Babe…I think I ate too much chocolate.’
Leah, that’s ha-larious. Now my mind is trying to figure out who that could be. Very funny stuff.
Success is going from failure to failure until you succeed (I read that somewhere, I’m not that smart).
But it’s true. Failing is the best teacher. You learn a lot about your thought process, your actions, your motivations, your mistakes. Make a few changes and poof, you have a puke free shirt. Or an adult Febreeze bib. One or the other.
Moe, have you invented that Febreeze bib? I haven’t heard about it and I could see a commercial that is in the same vane as the Snuggie.
Alright, I’m gonna say this here and now: a snuggie is not a brand new thing, it’s a robe that you wear backwards and some guy is makin millions because he did a doofus thing.
I read you reveal this on Tamara’s blog yesterday- I cannot believe this fact about you not puking. Honestly, it’s time you do. It’s like falling when you’re learning to ski- once you do it once and learn to get back up you won’t fear it anymore. It might not be as bad you think…
Stephen, others have said the same thing to me and I think it’s because they feel so much better after they puke. I’ve never even been sick to my stomach. That means that I don’t have a need to puke…ever. I like having this one unique fact about me. I think I’ll keep it as long as I can.
If we’re not failing, we’re not living the dream. I hate to fail, but I also hate to sit still without acting on my dreams.
As for puking, I had a recent bout with the stomach flu. I hate puking, but I sure felt better after I puked. Honestly, I don’t have any “great” puking stories.
Jon, “if we are not failing, we’re not living the dream.” Brilliant!
I have three kids, so I have many great puking stories. I could write a book, but doubt anyone would buy it. My favorite is not even about me or my family it is about one of my best friends.
She was on her way to work and had had one of THOSE mornings. By the way, she was very early on in her pregnancy with her second child. On the way to work, she feels like she is going to puke, so she is trying to find a plastic bag in her car. She comes to a red light and runs into the lady in front of her. She jumps out of the car, freaking out and proceeds to puke in the middle of the road, right in front of the lady she had just hit. That poor lady is now freaking out. Who should arrive at that precise moment? Her Dad who she has not told yet that she is pregnant. That is how he found out, seeing his daughter, wrecked and puking in the middle of road. I am sure they will never forget how he found out! I told her, one day – you will look back and laugh – because I was cracking up!!!
Gayle, that might be better than the plane story. Amazing. Did she get off from a ticket since she was pregnant and puked?
There wasn’t any real damage and the other driver was more worried over my friend, so they just went their separate ways.
I think my biggest fear is fear of failure, but I’ve gotten better about it over the years.
As a kid, I got carsick often…especially when I had to ride in the back of the van. Once, I felt like I was about to puke, and I put my fist up to my mouth (kind of like what people do when they cough). I couldn’t hold back the urge to throw up…and when I did, my fist was like a tube attached to my mouth, so my puke shot forward like a water fountain. It was fascinating…and gross.
TJ, that is amazing and gag nasty. How hard was that to clean up?
The more I think about it the more I think I would just throw that fan away. I don’t think I could ride in it again.
I have no idea how long it took to clean up. I was a little preoccupied with feeling sick and gross. I think it hit the open area of the van, so I’m assuming all that had to be cleaned were the car mats.
And yes, the van is long gone. =)
if you’ve never puked ice cream you’ve never lived my man.
Tyler, I suck at life then. Dang it. Does ice cream come back up the same color or does it change?
Old Chinese Proverb “Fall down 7 times, get up 8.”
Failure is a part of life. Mistakes are made to be learned from. If you fear failure so much that you do not try, then you do not succeed. If you do not succeed the, by inaction, you fail. Trying anything includes the possibility of failure. Not trying guarantees it.
Puke story: A number of years ago I had surgery to repair a hernia in my low abdomen. Keep in mind that all the abdominal muscles are used in the process of vomiting and mine had just been cut and sutured. The pain medication administered post-op was Vicodin even though my chart clearly stated I was allergic to it. My first attempt at standing and walking around while in recovery resulted in a stumbling rush to the nearest toilet wherein I discovered that it is possible to vomit and scream at the same time. Thankfully I didn’t pop any stitches, but the nurses did have to be reprimanded for administering a medication to which I am allergic.
Randal, I haven’t heard that before. I like Chinese food and I like that proverb. Good stuff.
Oh and that puke story is righteous. Wow!
OK, it’s a long one, but best puke story:
So my father, like many good all american dads, does not like stopping the car unnecessarily on road trips. For example, for things like bathroom breaks, we had the cool 1980’s orange/brown van, which had a small plastic porta-potty in the back for mom and several empty coffee cans for my brother and I. So one year while driving through the very windy mountain passes of Colorado, I started feeling a little queasy, I think the warm apple juice we had for a snack didn’t help. Well I promptly notified my parents that I didn’t feel so great(because making a mess in the car is a cardinal sin, but that’s a whole other story). Well my dad had just passed a long line of slow moving vehicles, and if you’ve driven mountain passes, real mountains, the rockies, not the smokies, you know how this feels when you finally get a chance to pass, and dear old dad was not giving up that position. So Mom handed me a plastic grocery bag just in case, and, well, just in case happened. Of course no one wants that smell in the car, so dad flung that sucker out the window, down the mountain, and might have very well hit some poor car we had passed not too long before that.
There you go, warned you it was long, but you asked.
Sirvhim, that was worth the wait. Gag nasty.
Hi Eric lol…that did sound a ltlite strange eh? All that blipping and twittering throughout the work day. I do play the guitar, but more in the acoustic, bluegrass, country style. I’m a major fan of Becker and Fagen and have seen SD 5 times in one summer as they traveled across the country. A great venue is Red Rocks in Colorado. It’s extraordinary! Thanks for stopping by!Tom
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Rob, is there a prize for leaving the last comment of the day? If so, maybe I should wait till 11:59 to post this, but I’ll go ahead and roll the dice now. For the record, I do hate failing, and when I do, I try hard to learn from it so I don’t fail that way again.
As for my puke story, when I was in ROTC in college, we had helicopters come pick us up for a training exercise my senior year. They flew us up to a base outside of Fredericksburg, and when they got over the base, the pilots dropped down low and started doing some high-speed turns to show off. I thought it was a blast, but one of the other cadets in the chopper with me didn’t, and after a couple of minutes had to take off her helmet and fill it up with Episode 2 of whatever she’d eaten earlier. When we landed, one of the instructors came up to her and was yelling at her about why she wasn’t wearing her helmet. I think he felt bad when she answered “I puked it in, sir!”
Dave, that was awesome! Were you on the bus trip from camp where multiple people got sick and they were told to puke in their pillowcases? It was gross. I think we were coming back from Teen Valley Ranch.
Rob, I’d forgotten about that! That was horrible, I remember it being really hot on the bus, and the road being really windy. Throw all that together with a bunch of kids on the way back from camp and you get a bus full of puke! I can only imagine what all the parents were thinking when we all stumbled off the bus back at church! Good times!
I cannot believe you have never puked!
John, I know. I view it as a spiritual gift. I kid, I kid.
Please give it to me!!
Definitely afraid to fail….sometimes fear of failure keeps me from taking the next step! As for the puke story, I went to high school in Germany. There was a great organization there called Malachi Ministries. This ministry ran youth groups for the chapels on military bases. So, every year for spring break youth groups from all over Germany traveled together to a particular destination for a week long retreat. My junior year we went to Ibiza, Spain. This required putting a number of vehicles and approx 300 high school kids and leaders on a very large Ferry in the city of Barcelona. When we arrived at the port for what was supposed to be an hour and a half ride on a ferry, the skies were dark and there were storms on the horizon. As we boarded the ferry we were each handed little vomit bags. The Mediterranean sea was so rough that evening that I ( along with a lot of other people) began vomiting before we left the dock. It took us TWELVE hours to reach Ibiza. At some point they shut the engines down and we “rode out” the storm. There were between 10 and 15 people who didn’t puke and they were on the lowest level of the ferry laying prostrate on the floor. They received awards and the other 290 of us received t-shirts that read “I survived the choke and barf ferry”. 290 people throwing up and dry heaving for 12 hours requires saw dust to be spread on the floors of the ferry so that the crew doesn’t slip and fall in the puke while performing their duties. It was actually quite scary and I thought we were going to die. When we finally got off that boat we still had an hour and a half bus ride to our hotel. We weren’t able to change our clothes until we arrived at our hote! Can you even imagine what those bus drivers thought when they layed eyes on us? And when they smelled us? I think most of us threw away the clothes we were wearing. Blech!!
I knew I was a parent the day that I held my hand out to catch my infant daughter’s puke in order to keep the carpet clean.
Okay, I’m sorry but, I forgot to add something important. It was always a treat to get “American food” when you were a teenager living in Germany. There was a McDonalds in Barcelona. We ate dinner from there BEFORE the boat ride. The end.
So funny how many people have puke stories
I used to be terrified of failing–not so much anymore. And sadly I have no good puke stories, but I plan on eating a lot of Krsytal hamburgers soon to fix this.
You told a nice story Rob.I am impressed by this story.Nice One
He sounds interested. He also sounds like a busy lad – suppose he has loads of work this weekend and is bummed he sin’t seeing you. Also, if his dad takes him, then what his dad does is out of his control, ultimately.