Hi and thanks for checking out my blog! Boy, this winter really seems to be flying by, doesn’t it? Soon enough, the weather will be warm again. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for summer. Speaking of warm, I was fortunate enough to have a break from the cold during our school’s winter recess. As a special treat, my family and I went on a beach vacation for a few days.
We had great weather during our trip – warm temperatures, and mostly sunny skies. Plenty of time in the sun for me (wearing lots of sunblock, of course). The vacation would have been perfect, except for something that happened at breakfast on our second day. I made a mistake—an innocent mistake—and I didn’t get to apologize for my error. Which brings me to the life lesson I learned: mistakes happen. What’s important is that you learn from your experience to avoid repeating that same mistake in the future.
Here’s my story…
May the fork be with you
One of the best parts of a vacation at a hotel is the breakfast. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day no matter where I am. But when I’m on vacation, breakfast is my favorite meal multiplied times ten. Especially when it’s a buffet breakfast. I love, love, love a buffet breakfast. The best buffets are ones with lots of options. Definitely not just bagels, cold cereal, or oatmeal. Sorry, but those are my boring, weekday options at home.
While I’ve been known to enjoy a healthy serving of waffles, pancakes, or French toast on vacation—including any sweet toppings you can offer—I also love having different kinds of eggs. I am always partial to scrambled eggs (though not if they’re watery). And if there’s ever an option for an omelet, sign me up.
The top buffet option is when there’s an omelet station. That’s when you get to customize eggs with your favorite fillings. On this past vacation, there was a made-to-order omelet station where you literally got to pick the fillings you wanted. In other words, there were different omelet fillings where you used tongs to put what you wanted on your plate. Once you picked all the omelet fillings you wanted, you handed the plate to the chef who would cook everything up for you. For me, that meant piling my plate high with mushrooms, tomatoes, and a teeny tiny bit of spinach. Top it off with some ketchup and yum-o, you’ve got the most delicious omelet ever.
With egg-cellent vacation breakfast options available, I was in heaven.
Except for the one buffet breakfast where everything changed.
Great egg-spectations
After having a deliciously filling omelet with my breakfast on our first full day of vacation, you can imagine how excited I was to head down to breakfast on the second day. With all the fun in the sun from the day before, I’d slept well and woke up starving.
I couldn’t wait to get my made-to-order omelet.
Just like I did the day before, I picked out my omelet fillings. Even though the omelet station was busy, I waited patiently for the chef to cook everything up.
The chef at the hotel was super talented and was able to make three different omelets at once on her huge griddle. My stomach growled as I watched the chef fold up my perfectly made omelet into a neat little pouch. I couldn’t wait to eat it.
Except just as I was about to get the omelet, a girl with a heap of brownish-blond curls put out her plate to take the omelet. My omelet!
Omeletting this slide
I couldn’t believe that the chef was about to put my omelet on her plate. I had to do something before the chef gave my omelet away.
“Excuse me,” I said, holding out my plate a little closer to the chef. “I think this omelet is mine.” I saw tiny pieces of spinach and tomato poking out, just like I ordered. Did I mention I was starving? The curly haired girl looked at me kind of funny and hesitated a second before pulling her plate away.
The chef shrugged and put the omelet on my plate.
Because I didn’t want to be rude, I added, “I think we must’ve ordered the same kind of omelet.”
Without looking back, I hurried to the table where my family was sitting. They had already begun eating. (The custom omelet station had taken a long time.)
After putting a big dollop of ketchup on my plate, I couldn’t wait to tuck into my breakfast.
But before I even swallowed my first bite of egg, I knew that something was wrong.
No yolk
As I chewed the steaming omelet, I didn’t taste any mushrooms. Instead, I tasted tomato, spinach, onions, and scallions. I didn’t order my omelet with onions or scallions. (Sorry onion lovers, but I would NEVER put an onion, scallion—or any member of the “allium” family—into my omelet.)
I poked around the omelet. Maybe there had been some leftover onion on the grill that the chef had forgotten to scrape off?
Nope. The whole omelet was spinach, tomato, onions, and scallions. It was most definitely not my omelet.
Then it dawned on me. Oh my gosh. I took the curly haired girl’s omelet. I had made a mistake.
Upon this realization, my appetite instantly vanished.
I was an accidental omelet thief.
A piece of humble pie
In my defense, I really thought the omelet I had taken was mine. The curly haired girl whose omelet I had stolen was probably enjoying my mushroom, tomato, and spinach omelet. I was not enjoying her oniony, scalliony omelet, that’s for sure.
What a horrible mistake I’d made! Now my breakfast—and the curly haired girl’s breakfast—were both ruined. All because I was an accidental omelet thief.
Ugh. I felt awful. What should I do? I couldn’t give the curly haired girl back a partially eaten omelet. It was too late for that. Especially since I’d picked out all the onions and scallions but had eaten everything else.
I really wanted to apologize to the curly haired girl. I wanted to let her know that I had been wrong. That I had mistakenly thought that the omelet I took had been mine.
If nothing else, I wanted to at least acknowledge to the curly haired girl that I was an accidental omelet thief—not a bad person otherwise though.
But she was nowhere to be found.
Eating my words
Just in case I spotted the curly haired girl, I thought about what I would say. I was thinking a simple, “I’m sorry. I took your omelet thinking it was mine” would do. I hoped the curly haired girl was the kind of person who would understand.
I imagined the curly haired girl’s response to my accidental omelet thief admission.
“No hard-boiled egg feelings,” she would say with a laugh. Then, I’d applaud her for making a fantastic joke out of the situation. After that, we’d become vacation friends until it was time for both of us to return to our homes.
Though maybe the curly haired girl wouldn’t be so forgiving. “This was my last day of vacation. All I wanted was one more omelet made to my exact specifications. You ruined my breakfast, and you ruined my entire vacation!” Yeesh. I hoped that wouldn’t be her response.
As I looked around the breakfast area and then the lobby to find the curly haired girl, she was nowhere to be found. My heart sank. I really wanted to apologize for my mistake.
It was an innocent mistake made by an accidental omelet thief.
Hatching a plan
For the entire day, I looked for the curly haired girl. I didn’t spot her at the pool, the beach, or anywhere else I’d passed.
Still feeling baldly about being an accidental omelet thief, I looked for the curly haired girl the next morning at breakfast. She wasn’t there either.
Resigning myself to the fact that the curly haired girl went home, I felt even more terrible. I wasn’t in the mood for an omelet that day, so I got scrambled eggs instead.
Now, you may be thinking, “Hey Noodle, it was an honest mistake. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” While that’s true, what I regret the most was that I didn’t have a chance to make amends. As my mom and dad say, when you make a mistake, it’s important to own up to it. In my case, I really just wanted to apologize to the curly haired girl.
So, if by chance, the curly haired girl from vacation is reading this blog, I want you to know that I’m really sorry I took your omelet. I hope you go on to have many delicious breakfasts in your future.
As for me, I promise to take more care and be aware before I act. Especially if I’m super hungry at a buffet breakfast. Because I never want to leave anyone egg-asperated at a made-to-order omelet station ever again.
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share them with me in the comments section!
