Today has been one of THOSE days. It started out great. We were on a mission. We had some important “cargo” to pick up and bring home. Our mission was a success, but sometime later in the day there was a shift – an unwelcome funk showed up.
Have you had this happen? Things are smooth sailing and then your starboard hits an iceberg and just like that your smile turns upside down. I have experiences.
One day while mom was at work, I thought I would help out with the laundry. I was 11 years old and I knew how to do the basic loads such as towels and bedding. I went to gather up a load of dirty clothes and saw mom’s brown sweater on the counter. I grabbed it and threw it in the washer with the rest. Once the washer was done, I put the clothes into the dryer. Dad arrived home and I told him what I had done. He was proud of me for helping out and I was feeling pretty good myself…until…I heard the dryer buzzer. I opened the door and pulled out the laundry. There sitting on top was the brown sweater. It shrunk from a normal adult size small to something that my sister’s baby doll could wear. I screamed! Dad comes out and I point at the dryer with words not forming from my mouth. He said, “Oh no, you’re going to be in trouble”. Geez, dad, what was your first clue! All of my happiness flitted away like a bee onto its next honeysuckle. When mom came home from work, I learned a rather loud shrieking lesson that you do NOT put 100% wool sweaters in the washer and dryer!
When I was in 7th grade, I thought it would be a good idea to borrow my mom’s makeup and apply before I got on the bus. She had this rosy red tube of rouge that you rolled onto your cheeks. I watched her apply it many times and knew that once you swirled it onto your cheekbones you took your fingers and smoothed it out and blended it in. How hard could it be? I closed the bathroom door and quietly opened the makeup drawer. I applied the rouge and then washed my hands. I also flushed the toilet so she would think that is why I had the door closed…I waited til the very last second and then ran out of the house to get on the bus. I was feeling pretty special!
During homeroom, my teacher called me up to her desk. She softly asked me if I had put on some of my mom’s makeup that morning. I beamed and said that I had. She nodded her head, sucked in her lips, and then pulled out a tissue. She told me to come closer and very discreetly she started wiping the rouge off of my face. I was shocked! She quietly told me that she could tell I had got into mom’s makeup and that I had not applied it correctly. Whoa! All of my joy had been stamped out. The final blow – she wouldn’t tell mom, but I should not do it again.
Today’s joy thief didn’t come disguised as a wool sweater or a tube of rouge. It came wrapped in needless drama. Funny how some people seem unable to build their own happiness without trying to borrow it from someone else’s.
But here’s the thing…the “cargo” made it home safely. My husband thanked me for navigating the logistics, and the people who matter most were exactly where they belonged. The joy thief may have knocked on the door today, but they didn’t get to move in. As for the funk? It can find someone else’s porch to haunt.
Until next time,
-Molly