I was standing in line at Office Depot when I saw you. You were holding a hefty, little ball of sweetness. His head was laid against your shoulder, and I wrongly assumed he was sleeping.
I don’t go to office depot much. Or ever really. I had taken my husband to work that morning, which is a story in itself.
The previous weekend, my husband managed to break his hand playing basketball with our 17-year-old. Said teenager walks into the house and says, “you should check on dad. He hurt his pinky.” Then he guzzled a gallon of water.
I told him it was broken. Of course I did. I mean, his pinky was pointing the wrong direction starting from the middle edge of his hand.
“Nah,” he said. “I think I just popped a ligament.” Cause, evidently that’s *not* a bad thing.
Two days later he shows it to the athletic trainer who sent him for an x ray (you know, the thing I tried to get him to do). Three pieces. It was broken into three pieces. He missed one afternoon of work and four screws later, and a fitful night of sleep, I took him back to work and hung around.
I’m not much for sitting around, so I started cleaning out and organizing his drawers. Thus finding myself at Office Depot in a part of town I don’t frequent.
“Oh, he’s not asleep,” the sweet mama said in response to my query.
I leaned over and saw his sweet face.
“He doesn’t sit up on his own yet.”
I smiled, because this is something I understand. “We’ll he’s precious, aren’t you, Little Man?”
This earned me a grin from the mom and toddler.
“I have a son with cerebral palsy. But he’s 19.”
“Really???” She was almost excited, “that’s what they are thinking he has.”
She told me a little more about him. She seemed nervous and tired.
I turned to make my purchase, and I felt a little nudge, so I turned back to her.
“Mama,” I addressed her, “It’s going to be okay. It may not be what you expect, but it’s going to be okay. Life is still going to be great.”
She thanked me with tears in her eyes and said she needed to hear that.
I’m not sharing this to seem like a special person (cause really, I’m not). I’m sharing this because you might need to hear this today.
Because life might not be like you expected and/or wanted. But it’s going to be okay. Today you can start anew. You can go a different direction. It doesn’t have to be perfect. And you can experience joy even if you life isn’t the way you wanted it to be. You can choose joy.
I stopped back by my husband’s office this week. So far those drawers are still somewhat organized. Miracles do happen.
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