Published: May 05, 2009 06:41 pm      

GESENHUES: Against All Odds

Sometime shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday, we got a new turn of phrase around our house. From here on out, “believe in the impossible” will now be summed up with a Mine That Bird. Yes, it takes just as long to say but drives the idea home so much better.

Mine That Bird took this year’s Kentucky Derby with 50-to-1 odds, a staggering win among equine royalty. He was more than an underdog (Underhorse?); his odds were so low that dead in the water was a better definition than underdog. The best part was that he didn’t just win. He killed it. The horse was so far ahead of the game that there was no doubt during the last seconds of the race who would be donning the garland of roses.

And so now, whenever someone complains about a certain goal or task being too far out of reach to achieve, they will receive a simple Mine That Bird.

When my daughter claims that her room is too messy to clean all by her 5-year-old self; when my husband gets a late start only to complain that he doesn’t have enough time to mow before the rain; when I have a pile of laundry taller than a racehorse — all will be approached with a Mine That Bird attitude.

There have been many times when I have Mined That Bird in my life. Just a few years ago, I didn’t think we would ever get pregnant. We had been trying for the better part of two years only to have a miscarriage 11 weeks into the one pregnancy that finally took. But now, I’m racing to finish this column before my 6-month-old wakes, which is really two Mine That Birds — having a new baby and having a baby who sleeps through the night past 6 a.m.

During my sophomore year in college, I suffered from full-fledge bulimia. It was awful and I was scared that it was something I was going to have to live with forever. Forget about finishing college, most mornings I wasn’t sure if I could finish the day.

After pretending like nothing was wrong for a whole semester, I dropped out of Auburn University after the spring break of my sophomore year certain that I wouldn’t make it back. I was wrong. I took summer and fall semester classes at home and got my life back into some semblance of order. I Mined That Bird and was back at my out-of-state university by January of the following year. Not only did I make it back on my feet, but I graduated with a somewhat acceptable grade-point average in a record four years — record since I had dropped out just a year and a half before.

Overcoming my eating disorder was a huge Mine That Bird experience for me, and one I still look back on whenever I question whether I can conquer something.

My latest Mine That Bird? My house. It’s finished. I’ve written about this one before, but it’s a big one and deserves more than just a one-time column appearance. In the last four years, my husband and I have completely renovated my childhood home. There were days, weeks, and months when I thought it was never going to be done.

We went the entire summer of 2007 with our primary bathroom gutted down to the studs. Any time anyone had to use the restroom at our house, they had to make a trip to the downstairs through our unfinished basement to the only plumbed bathroom in the house. Finally finishing our upstairs bath was a major Mine That Bird.

I imagine both my children eventually will get sick of me throwing around my new phrase, being told to Mine That Bird before every homework assignment, essay or exam that they dread. I can hear my daughter now, “Mooooommmmm, stop saying that! It doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Oh, but it does,” I’ll tell her and then go on to explain how much money I could have won if I had bet that horse to win. “You know it paid out $200 for a just a $2 bet.” I know, I know. It was really only $103.20, but I’m sure I’ll raise the odds by the time my kids are in school.