Kind Words and Ice Cream
Well… this was a stressful week. On top of the usual (and some not-so-usual) life stresses, my daughter seemed to be brimming with resentment towards me. Everything that went wrong was my fault, and at one point- after she made a mistake and blamed me for the outcome- in exasperation I asked “How is THIS possibly my fault?” She said “It IS your fault, because you were the one who gave me the ‘stupid’ gene.” Ah. Well, at least she gets points for creativity! When I told my sister about this, she remembered her eighth grade year, and said she had days where she felt like she was bursting with anger. She reminded me that it’s probably hormonal, and that it will pass. It was good to put things in perspective, but it was still hard to deal with. On Wednesday my Garmin informed me of this: How did it know??? I have to admit that instead of starting a breathing exercise, I bought myself this: I know what you’re thinking- “Boy, she really knows how to live it up! Sugar-free and dairy-free ice cream!” Ha ha… actually it’s really good. It’s sweetened with erythritol though, which can be hard on the digestive system if you eat too much of it. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Why is ice cream SO FRICKIN’ GOOD??? I split that pint between two happy nights. No breathing exercises needed. Today one of my coworkers screwed up massively and somehow left me to deal with the consequences. I had to apologize to the client for the mixup, and instead of being incredibly annoyed- which she had every right to be- she said “It’s okay. We all have bad days.” Because I’ve had such a hard week, I was disproportionately grateful for those words. She could have complained. Or she could have just said “That’s okay.” But to add the extra “We all have bad days” was an extra kindness, and it made my day. It reminded me of this quote (attributed to both T.H. Thompson and John Watson); Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Yes, more kind words… and ice cream. We’ll get through these battles with a little help. Have you had anyone say something unexpectedly kind lately? Favorite flavor of ice cream? – My current favorite is this butter pecan.