..across the room to deal with bad days.....

the flowers I gave myself today :)

I often hear people talk about having bad days and it always makes me wonder why they don't do something about these bad days so that the entire day doesn't have to be labeled that way.  Then along came today!

Due to an upcoming medical procedure it was necessary for me to go on a liquid diet for the past two days.  Juice is not something I care for at the best of times.  A piece of fruit is so much more enticing to me than liquid that tastes like fruit.  However, there seemed to be a limit as to what I could and could not drink and juice was on the menu for me!  It didn't work though and my tummy rebelled against it as well as the chicken broth I wanted to drink.  Long story short, I ended up having mostly water, coffee and tea for two days.  Needless to say, by this morning I felt a little weak, hungry and just a tad grumpy.    Things did not go well for me in the kitchen as I prepared my husband's bag lunch and I ended up having to wipe down some cabinets, fridge and floor.  I had errands to run as well as a visit to my hair stylist and my deadline was noon.  Since I was tired of making my own coffee I went out of my way to pick up an Americano at Starbucks and realizing I was ahead of schedule decided I would get to the salon early and perhaps page through a few magazines to help me explain what I wanted done with my hair.  I realized the door was locked when I almost broke my nails trying to yank it open with my cell phone in one hand and coffee in the other.  I yanked again (just to make sure!) knocked  on and looked through the window where I saw a group of stylists sitting around chatting.  Immediately my temper got the best of me and when they finally opened the door twenty minutes later I was about to bite someone's head off!  However my stylist is young enough to be my daughter and besides, I like her and she apologized, explaining they were having a staff meeting.  I still felt a little grumpy though and when she indicated which station she wanted me at I told her I would like to use the rest room first (I DID after all drink almost an entire Americano! and besides, maybe she wanted to know what it feels like to wait!).  I guess I was still seeing red because I walked right past the rest room towards the back of the salon so she had to call me back and point me to the right door.   I nearly had a heart attack when I opened the door to see someone occupying the room and I wondered what would go wrong next.

On my way home I had one more stop to make at the local supermarket.  First things first though because by now I was ready for another Starbucks break.  This time I ordered a blend I hadn't tried before and when she handed it to me and said "I hope you like it" I answered "I hope so too!"....not a reply I would normally make.  But what was normal about this day?!  I collected what I needed and proceeded to the EXPRESS checkout.  Delightfully there was NOBODY ahead of me but of course by the time I wanted to pay there was quite a line up.  I used my debit card, or tried to, and the machine would not accept it.  We tried again, and AGAIN and finally she said "It wants you to go through the motions and then it will reject it!"  

"That's ridiculous" I thought to myself.  How does SHE know what the machine wants from me?  Eventually I timidly proceeded while she rolled her eyes at me!  TEMPER!  "What business does SHE have rolling her eyes at ME when this is all the machine's fault?"  I could not believe my eyes.  I'm sure had I been able to make eye contact with the person behind me in the line up my mouth would have wanted to sarcastically tell him "and they call THIS the EXPRESS lane!"  Leaving the check out counter I slowly made my way to the exit all the while trying to decide how I should handle this rude clerk.  Go back and give her a piece of my mind?  Talk to a supervisor?  I decided to let it be and secretly hoped the next person would straighten her out but good!!

As I drove home I realized how this interruption in my diet had affected my mood, actions and tolerance level and I decided that I would start over again.  I found a bright orange vase, stuck some pretty flowers and baby's breath into it and allowed it to be my reminder for the rest of my day at home.  A reminder that even when I don't feel completely wonderful I can choose how I act and react.  This day was also a reminder to myself how important it is to be good to myself by eating properly, exercising, and getting enough sleep.  It's so simple really but maybe often we create our own bad days?