You know, anytime I think I’ve gotten a raw deal in life, someone or something comes along to remind me just how good I have it.
Like having a bad day, for instance. Sometimes the smallest things can irritate me to the point of calling it a “bad day” but let me tell you about how the day began for friend of ours recently.
First of all, they have a new baby, so all of you parents out there know what I mean when I tell you that Mom is always tired and moody and therefore Dad is in trouble a lot. When he left for work that morning, he had been fussed at, so already his day had gotten off on the wrong foot.
He was dressed in his suit, of course, since he works at a bank. But he needed to stop by a construction site to do a quick inspection on his way to work.
When he arrived, nobody was at the site because it had been raining. So, he quickly did his inspection and cranked up the Volvo to leave.
Rule #1. Never go to a muddy construction site in a Volvo.
Rule #2. Never go to a muddy construction site in a suit.
When he put the car in gear, his tires began spinning. He tried everything but ended up buried in the mud. He put on some wimpy galoshes that are really intended to save your shoes from getting wet, hoping that they would somehow repel the mud, and stepped out to see just how bad it was.
Well, it was bad. He tried putting stuff under the tires, but nothing helped. By now he was trudging through shin-high muck, the mud was way over the tops of the galoshes and oozing up his pants legs. He cursed to himself as he wondered how he had ever thought they could have possibly helped. The thought of him walking through mud with these little galoshes on makes me laugh!
He finally called someone with a four-wheel-drive truck and they hauled him out. He went home, stripped down in the garage, and took his second shower in as many hours.
This is the day I thought I was having a “bad day” because I needed to go to the grocery store and didn’t have time, then finally went anyway and had to wait in a mile-long line, then got home and realized I had forgotten to buy paper towels.
Thank you, Kevin, for making me realize that, relatively speaking, I wasn’t having a bad day after all.
