The Oven Theory

A waiter at a Japanese restaurant in New York once inadvertently summed up this thing called life so wisely, I must share it with you again, for it remains my favorite go-to metaphor:  "I opened the oven and there was no fish."  He was trying to explain why the fish my dear friend Connie Ray had ordered had yet to appear, and wound up saying so much more.  Sometimes you open the oven, expecting something wonderful, but instead, you get bupkis.  What you thought you'd find has gone fishin'.  (See what I did there?)  I believe Mick Jagger was thinking along these same lines when he sang, "You can't always get what you want...." Whether it's a nice piece of fish or that hot pink Porsche you've had your eye on, it's just not meant to be, or maybe, if you're more of an optimist, it's meant to be at some point, but you'll never know when.  One day, the universe will surprise you.  One day, you'll open the oven, and the salmon will be there, cooked perfectly, just the way you like it. Then again, you may never get the salmon, which is eff'd up, but that, my friends, is life.