When Hubby was teaching young Gunny to drive, during one of their first lessons Gunny was at the wheel when they approached an intersection where they had a stop sign but the street they were crossing didn’t.
When Gunny didn’t start putting the break on, Hubby started saying, “Stop, Stop, Stop!” But the new driver didn’t get stopped and was coasting into the middle of the intersection … and there was a car coming on the cross street! So while Gunny was still trying to follow Hubby’s first instruction, Hubby then began yelling, “Go, Go, Go!” Luckily, Gunny was able to stop trying to stop and start putting on the gas so that they were able to make it through the intersection without being hit. While Gunny did learn to drive and drive well, the story still gets a laugh when it comes up occasionally at family gatherings.
But I was reminded of it last week when I was playing golf. After I putted from way across the green toward the hole, I was worried that I hadn’t hit the ball hard enough and started saying, “Go, Go, Go!” But then as it skirted the hole and started rolling down the sloping far side of the green, I changed my plea to “Stop, Stop, Stop!”.
Gunny may have wished that Hubby would make up his mind … and the ball may have wished the same of me.