Ten years ago, I was bouncing around the Middle East, dodging camels on highways and trying not to get heatstroke in a flak vest. I didn’t know then that one day I’d be sitting in Sayre, Oklahoma, writing articles about pie, parades, and the people who make small-town life so rich.
I never imagined folks would care enough to read the words I strung together, let alone trust me to tell their stories. But here I am—doing my best each week to get every name right, every detail straight, and every story told with the care it deserves.
And yet—I’ve made mistakes. Three so far that have earned public corrections, including one just last week. Turns out, I misnamed one of Erick’s most beloved little cafes. I called it the Sunshine Café. It’s not. It’s the Main Street Bakery and Cafe—a true hometown spot where they serve more kindness and biscuits than sunshine, and I should’ve double-checked before hitting send.
Now, I could beat myself up. (And I did. Briefly. Over coffee.) But it got me thinking… Some of the greatest things in history have come from getting it wrong.
Take the microwave oven, for example. It wasn’t born out of culinary brilliance— it was invented after a guy walked too close to a radar machine and noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. He didn’t plan it. He didn’t pitch it. He just noticed a mess and turned it into a miracle.
Same goes for penicillin. Alexander Fleming wasn’t trying to cure infection—he just forgot to clean up one of his petri dishes. A little mold snuck in, and boom—modern medicine got a whole new lease on life.
Truth is, we’ve all gotten something wrong. Names, dates, directions, relationships, job choices, gas pumps… you name it. If we made a list of every little thing we’ve fumbled along the way, it’d fill up the side of a grain silo.
And yet—here we are. Still learning. Still showing up. Still getting better.
What I’ve come to believe is this: the most important thing we can offer one another isn’t perfection. It’s patience. It’s giving folks a little room to be human, to grow, and to make it right when they mess it up. Because we’re all going to be on both sides of that story sooner or later.
So with all that in mind, here’s my most recent lesson in humility: Last week, in an article about a beloved little spot in Erick, I mistakenly referred to it as the Sunshine Café. That’s not the name. The correct name is the Main Street Bakery and Cafe—a true hometown café and bakery where the biscuits are homemade and the smiles are too.
I got it wrong, and they had every right to be frustrated. But instead, the folks involved showed me nothing but kindness and grace. And in return, I get the chance to do what any decent person should when they mess something up: say it out loud, fix it, and do better next time.
It’s a small mistake in the grand scheme of things—but maybe that’s the point. It’s in the small moments that we have the biggest chances to show who we really are. To choose grace over grumbling. To turn an “oops” into an opportunity.
Thanks for letting me try again.
