Heard an anecdote today. It may be apocryphal but whether it actually happened really doesn’t matter.

A little old lady is in bed late at night, with the lights out, and she hears somebody trying to break into her house. She dials 9-1-1 but (due to budget cuts–entirely plausible here in California) gets only voicemail. She knows she can’t wait, so she hangs up and checks the phonebook for a doughnut shop. Calls that number and asks the manager if any policemen happen to be there. He says, “Well, yes, as a matter of fact we have two sitting here right now. Would you like to speak to one?” Next thing she knows, the bad guy is getting hauled away in handcuffs.

What’s the point of that tale? Quite simple: If there’s something you absolutely must have, or something your kid needs (which is the same thing), and the normal channels for accessing help aren’t working for you, don’t be surprised. Do be prepared to think creatively.

Maybe it’s a reflection on the quality of my own creative thinking, but I usually find that the first clever idea doesn’t work out that neatly. Staying with the above analogy, the shop is closed, or the cops have already come and gone, or maybe I can’t even find the blasted phonebook. In that case, there needs to be a Plan C. Any number of wild ideas will beat the alternative of giving up. What’s got you stumped right now? And how are you going to get around it?

If you haven’t seen it yet, a community newspaper serving Del Mar, California and the surrounding area ran a pretty decent article on the book last week. To read it, please click here.