Hoy Google Fotos me ha recordado dónde estaba hace más o menos un año: curioseando la tienda de una gasolinera de una conocida cadena norteamericana, Buc-ee’s (¡gracias, Tasha!)
There was a section full of posters, placards and greeting cards with really cool messages, and two in particular caught my attention. But before I show you the first one, for the Spanish-speaking folks, I have to explain an expression in English that we could include in the category of untranslatables: to have your ducks in a row, which literally translates as "tener tus patitos en fila".
Have you ever seen a mammy duck walking with her ducklings? They give you a sense of order and discipline, right? Well, that´s exactly what this phrase conveys: having everything prepared and well organised, everything under control, leaving no loose ends. At work, we use this expression quite frequently when talking about tasks or projects, or, for example, this week, as we´re getting ready to do our quarterly planning, and we want to make sure everything is in order.
OK, once that´s understood, here´s the first picture, a greeting card:
(Traducción libre del texto: «Ni tengo patitos ni tengo fila… Lo que tengo son ardillas, y están por todas partes.»
Have you ever seen, or, if you haven´t, can you imagine, a family of squirrels running and jumping in different directions? Unpredictable and chaotic; the complete opposite of a family of ducks, isn´t it? Who hasn´t experienced at least once the feeling that they´re losing control, and things are starting to get out of hand?
Which takes me to the second picture, this time it´s a lovely placard that I was very close to purchasing:
("As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I´m totally flexible)
I think this phrase is absolutaly brilliant, and it fits me like a glove, being an Enneagram type 1 as I am. It humorously portrays the hurdle I tend to trip over much more often than I would like: having unrealistic expectations and then responding rigidly every time they´re not met (and today it happened again, sorry you got the scolding girls).
Enlazando esta idea con la anterior, me doy cuenta de que generalmente todo va bien y puedo fluir con la vida y estar tranquila hasta que se me sale un patito de la fila (o unos cuantos a la vez), y entonces vislumbro el caos y empieza el desastre… Esta plaquita para mí es un recordatorio de que es fácil avanzar cuando las cosas nos van bien; lo difícil es no echarlo todo a perder cuando dejan de ir tan bien, que, seamos realistas, va a ser bastante a menudo, porque la vida se parece mucho más a la familia de ardillas que a la de patitos, por mucho que nos cueste aceptarlo.
What do you think of these two phrases? Do you identify with any of them? In which way?