My Friday

I try really hard to be positive. A few years ago, one of my closest friends asked me one question in a gentle tone and a hug, "Why don't you ever smile anymore? I miss that smile of yours." That one statement and question gave me the kick in the butt I needed. I gave myself two rules. The first rule is that I *must* smile at least once a day. The second rule is that I *must* cause someone else to smile at least once a day. I had a really great week. My health was wonderful. The only complaint I possibly had was a small sore throat and stuffy nose. Three years ago, I would have killed for ONLY a sore throat and stuffy nose.

I was in a perfectly good mood all week (especially from meeting Eric Montross on Wednesday) and then Friday happened. I woke up from a terrible nightmare. Since my dreams tend to come true, it put me on edge right away. I got to work and everything seemed to go wrong. I got home and got more news that put me over the edge. To top it off, my favorite work pants ripped in the knee. Most of my work pants either have holes or don't fit. It's very frustrating. Last year this time, I bought new pants and NONE of those pants fit any more.

Since I needed gas and had a check to put in the bank, I decided to go ahead and get it out of the way. Well as I passed the Goodwill store, I realized that I could stop by and see if by chance they had some pants I could get for work. Retail therapy is always good, but it's not good when you don't have the money to spend on pants that may not fit in a year (sometimes they don't fit even a month after I buy them which seems so unfair). So I went straight to the khaki's and started looking through the huge rack of them hoping to find something to try on. I found 8 pair that *might* fit out of all the khaki's they had. Four pair fit pretty well so I walked out with 4 pair of pants (3 of them are from Gap) for around 14 dollars.

Now as I was there at Goodwill, there was a lady scouring through the same pair of pants that I was. She was filled with anger. Her mood was definitely in the air. She would angrily pull off one pair of pants go into the dressing room and come back and slam them back on the rack. She did this a few times. Another lady came out of the 2nd dressing room and began speaking with her. The second lady was speaking kind of quietly while the first lady was screaming about how she TOLD HER there wouldn't be anything there that would fit. I was trying not to listen to their conversation, but it was so loud it was pretty much unavoidable. I realized very quickly that these two ladies knew each other.

Then, it happened. The second lady looked at the first lady and said "why do you have to be so negative all the time? Where did Anne go? I'm sure we can find something. Let's just keep looking." Then the first lady's face softened. They both started looking through the racks with kinder fingers. I wondered if Anne was struggling with a chronic illness. I wondered if she had gone through a decade plus of doctors ignoring her condition and if she was just struggling to maintain her weight. I wondered if she was, in that moment, where I was 2 years ago. If Anne is there right now, I hope that she'll be where I am in 2 years. Guess what happened next. Anne was in line behind me with 3 pair of pants, her friend and a smile. Guess Goodwill did have something for her after all. :o)