It all begins with listening to your wife.  You may think you're doing something helpful, something maybe even a bit gallant, but bottom line...listen to your wife.  For example, when your wife tells you to leave the snake in the water garden alone, that may be the best advice and direction you'll receive all summer long.  Failing to follow that directive may impact the rest of your summer, the fall and into the winter months of the year. Bottom Line:  Snake - 1, Ed - 0.
Running down a steep hill in flipflops while chasing a snake should be something most fifty-eight year old men should avoid.  I've never been real good about knowing my limits, so the chase was on as Jan again told me to leave the snake alone.  Seeing my failure to heed her advice, she moved indoors and didn't see the fall.  It wasn't graceful, it wasn't pretty and it wasn't good.
To make this long story short, I messed with physical therapy during the remainder of the summer with poor results.  An MRI in September revealed a large tear of the rotator cuff which led to surgery on October 24th.
So how many times have I wished for a chance at a mulligan?  As I sit here, ten days out of surgery, very limited in what I can do around the house, I again say, "Why didn't I listen to my wife?"