Story of My Life
Odd things happen to me, they just do. For example, this morning, I was running a little late, and after I had gotten into the shower, I realized I wouldnt have enough time to make my lunch so I asked my son Brendan to make a sandwich for me. He said he would and left. A few minutes later, he came back in to ask “Can I have half of your sandwich for my breakfast?” I said “Brendan, thats my lunch!” and he said, “But its HUGE mom, there’s enough for both of us.” I started imagining what sort of tasty delight might be awaiting me at lunch time? Perhaps a turkey/cheese/lettuce/tomato stacker? I told him to just hold off until I got out of the shower and could see for myself just how HUGE it was. By the time I got dressed, the suspense was killing me! Imagine my disappointment to discover not the mouth-watering turkey/cheese monster I had imagined, but rather………………
Peanut Butter and Jelly. *sigh* And it was ALREADY cut in half. I told him to go ahead and take his half and he devoured it in no time.
Later, at lunch time, as I was unpacking my meal, I shared with a co-worker the saga of my sandwich, and I realized that in the time since he had made it, somehow his sandwich morphed from being a disappointment to a heartwarming example of a little boy’s values. And it made us both laugh when I told her he wanted half….which reminded me of a similar event many moons ago when I was a teenager.
It was Christmas Eve, I think I must’ve been 16 or 17, and we were opening presents early at my house (my mom could never wait!). On this occasion, my then-boyfriend, James, was exchanging gifts with me in the family room. He presented me with a hefty sized box, and I of course was impressed with the size and began to speculate about what it could be. I unwrapped it, and found to my delight, a very large, heavy box of assorted chocolates. When I took off the lid, I was shocked to learn that many of the chocolates (and ALL of the caramels!) were eaten, only the wrappers remained. Needless to say, my mother and father thought that was just the funniest thing, and my boyfriend, blast his hide, wasnt even embarrassed about presenting me with a half eaten box of candy! He justified it by saying he and the friend who ‘helped’ him wrap it got hungry. Of course, this made my folks laugh harder. I looked at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief, and asked why he left the empty wrappers? He said the box looked too empty without them. Im sure you can guess what I told him when he asked for a piece of candy, cant you?
I realized an important lesson today: Ultimately, long after the candy or the sandwich or whatever it was is gone, you are left with a smile on your lips and a warm glow in your heart to know that no matter how imperfectly demonstrated, you are loved.
Its ALL Blarney!! 