Composure

I'm told that I have amazing composure and that I'm incredibly calm in a crisis.While that may be true, it isn't something that I would wish on anyone.  The sort of composure I possess is not something a person is born with.  It is a process that unfolds as events occur in life. It's the kind of thing that develops ...

• when your older siblings tease relentlessly, and your parents don't stop them.
• when the school bully follows you home and you have to be brave.
• when your childhood friend dies on the same day you have an important job interview.
• when you sneeze all over the microphone in front of 500 people.
• when your ex-girlfriend brings her new boyfriend to see your show.
• when you're called out in front of your friends.
• when Mom catches you doing something naughty ... then tells your sister.
• when you get a traffic ticket in front of your own house.
• when you have to go to school the day after your grandfather dies.
• when you get the news of your grandmother's death while at a graduation party for a friend's daughter.
• when you have to stand up and tell a crowd of people something they don't want to hear.
• when your boss smiles as she hands you the pink slip.
• when a flood takes away everything you own.
• when the baby is born blue and your wife is hysterical.
• when the car breaks down in the middle lane of the highway.
• when you're in front of a fourth-grade class and you get the news of your father's death.

These are some of the events that assist in developing amazing  composure.