That in-the-sink device that prevents my dishes from breaking on the bottom of the sink is both frustrating and “delivering.” 

It's frustrating when the spoons, forks, and knives fall below the device.

How the heck can you retrieve them? 

Squeeze your fingers through the grates and try to pull them out? 

Lift the device and try to extricate the utensils before the device falls back in the sink?

Or before a dish or pot falls on your hand?

But “delivering”? 

Yes. 

By learning the “sink game,” by actually figuring out whether and when to squeeze or lift, I have been delivered from frustration to the acquisition of a new talent. 

I call my new talent “I Can Do Anything Now!”

Can I really do ANYTHING now? 

No. 

But, I can do almost everything around the house that I couldn't have dreamed possible before. 

I can repair the bathroom mats so they no longer slide on the floor.

 I can fix a door hinge, build a floor in the attic for storage boxes, and wire a lamp there, too.  And  many other things.

My willingness to not just overcome the sink-device-obstacle but to gain dominance over it — to actually win the “sink game” — that is what has “delivered” me.
 
And as for really creative ideas, well, they are flourishing because of my “sink game.” 

One example is the method I dreamed up for keeping ping pong balls sitting on the side of my ping pong table so I wouldn't have to run after wayward balls every minute or so. 

How do you think I fastened them to the side of the table?  My wife thought it was glue.  Nope. 

A 15-inch length of double-stick (double-sided) tape did the trick. 

Stick it to me. 

I'm a winner .

And no longer am I frustrated by my sink device, or by most other frustrations that come my way. 

Why? 

Because I realize that they, too, may deliver me to new horizons!

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com