Cut The Stick

I’ve always been a jump feet first into the water and figure out how to swim later type of person, so it comes as no surprise to my husband at all when I text him the news of my latest Lucy Ricardo type adventure. This past year however, I think I outdid myself when I sent him the news that I had just bought a house. “I think I may have just bought that house in Belfast on the curve? I’m not sure. We didn’t shake hands, but we closed the deal with a wink and a smile. In today’s world, I think that’s the same thing, right? We didn’t talk price, but if I want it, it’s mine” it read.

I’m sure at that point he was really beginning to question my sanity, because I was questioning it myself, but I made a promise to a dear friend over a decade before, and I have lived up to that promise every single day since then.

My dear friend Barry was visiting from Northern Ireland, and as we were driving around the city of Buffalo, he made me promise him two things. The first one was that I would always try any new food that I had the opportunity to taste. This was a promise I made to him which I am sure he regretted a few months later as I visited him and he ordered a slice of Banoffee pie. I, the person who is not a pie eater at all, not only tasted the slice, but proceeded to eat the whole thing on him, leaving him dessertless, with his mouth watering for the sweet banana and toffee confection so badly that when he purchased a whole pie from the store a few days later he hid it from me.

The second promise he made me make was to “Cut The Stick”. Not knowing what in the world he was talking about, which is often the case when he tells me things, I looked at him in bewilderment, and told him there were a few people’s sticks I would like to cut alright. He explained…

Cut the stick refers to not letting an opportunity pass by. It’s an old Irish saying that refers to a man walking along a road. He sees a stick that could aid him on his walk, but instead waits and thinks there might be a better one down the road, which in most cases there is not. We become a dog chasing its tail. Promise me that you will take opportunities that come your way.

I’m not the type of person who makes promises that I can’t keep, and due to the circumstances in my life at that time, I knew that this one might be a tough one, but Barry, although a few years younger than myself, was like the older brother I never had. His advice was the soundest I had ever gotten in my life, and I would always pay attention to it. His voice had the same effect on me as music does to the Tasmanian Devil. He would just say, “Now Trisha,” and I would suddenly go from being a whirlwind of chaos to a calm, hypnotized state. His words had weight, and I knew he would never steer me in the wrong direction. I was on the verge of coming to a major crossroads in my life and, although I curse him sometimes for it, making that promise to him was one of the best things I ever did. I’m sure at the moment my husband got that text from me, he may have disagreed though.

“For what?” my husband replied. I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t even seen the inside or talked about a price. If there was any question about my sanity, I’m pretty sure that was the point when I put the stamp on the papers that said “CERTIFIABLE”. I didn’t know anything. I just knew that I was supposed to be the one to save that house and that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I had to cut the stick!

It’s funny that Cut The Stick also refers to an Irishman preparing for a journey and how he would cut a shillelagh before venturing off, because I too am about to embark on the journey of a lifetime in fixing up a 168 year old house that has sat empty for the past ten years.

At the beginning of every new year, so many of us make resolutions to be healthier, lose weight, drink more water, workout more, but I think sometimes by making those types of resolutions, we are almost setting ourselves up for failure, not truly realizing how hard those things actually are if we don’t ease into them. Out of the 41% of people who actually make resolutions, only 9% of them feel as if they were actually successful in keeping them at year’s end. Perhaps the resolutions we make should be different. Perhaps those little promises we make to ourselves should be more like trying any new food that we have the opportunity to taste, or taking opportunities that come our way. You may never know what can happen unless you cut the stick.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Just smile and say Yes dear.” I texted my husband.

His reply? “Yes dear”

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