The Universe Has a Great Sense of Humor

Six and a half years ago I was working as an engineer at a small robotics startup in Pensacola, Florida.

The company wasn’t doing so well. The tasks I was getting assigned seemed increasingly fruitless. It was clear it couldn’t last forever.

It was early December when I got fired from Robotics Unlimited. It was only a week after I started dating my partner, Hilary.

The next day, we went to a little diner called the Coffee Cup for breakfast. It was a real old-school place, beloved by retirees who fancied the good-old days.

Before we went to the diner I put on a flowery Hawaiian shirt with a little hole in it that I got at a thrift store for a dollar. When we made it to the coffee cup I got myself a simple cup of black coffee and joked to Hilary about how “I’m retired now”. She thought it was hilarious.

In the six and a half years since that morning, neither of us ever went back to the coffee cup.

A couple of months ago, in early June, I woke up on a Sunday morning and felt a strong urge to go to the Coffee Cup. I wanted to bring the whole family. I wanted to skip brunch at the usual spot with our friends. I wanted to wear that same dang Hawaiian shirt with the hole in it.

We went. I got a cup of black coffee. I joked to Hilary about how “I’m retired now”

The next day, I was fired.

The universe has a great sense of humor. Learn to laugh with it. Even when you’re at what feels like the butt-end of the joke.

(I’m gainfully employed now. I just love this story)