Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sweet & Sour


I saw on my calendar that today is the Sweetest Day. I had heard it mentioned at other times but my curiosity led me to google it. Apparently it started in Cleveland in the 1920's by a man handing out candy to the less fortunate and now is celebrated by showing love and appreciation to your friends and family. It's kind of funny it even makes it onto a calendar if you ask me. Before I read that I was thinking it had something to do with the time of year, the harvest, the relativity of the angle of the sun to the equator. And really it is about a box of chocolates. Either way, a good reason to have a mini celebration.

I needed to read that because this week has been kind of rough. On the up side, none of us seem to have yet contracted the swine flu despite dire forecasts by the media. But it was just a bad energy week up here. I ended up working Thursday (to make up for not working on our holiday Monday) and working late. I went in with a bad attitude and I managed to hold my center until the end of the day and then it snowballed.

The previous day Riley came home from school WITHOUT his backpack, which all parents of school age children will realize is a disaster of epic proportions. A search of the school and the school bus turned up nothing. When my son sees his first therapist and that therapist asks him to remember back to the first traumatic experience he can remember, he will undoubtedly recall my reaction to him losing his backpack in first grade. Honestly, why do I so often forget that he is just six years old?

Then, yesterday was a weird little day. I had an early morning coffee with a good friend who I hadn't seen in a while. Important note here, I had a very strong coffee, something I guess I am no longer used to because I jitter bugged through the rest of the day. Right up to 6:00 p.m., I was out of my skin, irritated, unable to complete simple tasks or even a thought. I couldn't even pull supper together which didn't go over too well. I'm blaming it on the coffee. It was so unsettling though, I can't remember being so agitated.

I'd like to suggest that on this Sweetest Day you go out and do a little something to make someones life sweet. Make it a sugar treat, or a mental, emotional, spiritual sweet. One of my classmates in the Life is a Verb class I am taking talked this week about how when she does her groceries, she asks the checkout person what kind of candy bar is their favorite, then she adds one to her order and hands it to the person. I loved that. If we all reached out and touched someone with a small gesture, image how sweet this day would be.



P.S. I love Caramilk.

7 comments:

karen said...

oooh i love that too!! i am gonna do it! thank you for sharing that~

oreneta said...

I have to send the man out for chocolate now....oh goodness.

Snap said...

{{{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}}}}

Kim Mailhot said...

This is such a good post, Kim. It relates so well to how I have been feeling lately too. The crappy, mean, mundane stuff of life is always there and sometimes it even gets the better of us big time!
But in each moment we have a chance to change the focus, don't we? Remembering that certainly can bring a little more of that sweetness back into our life. Does it take away the crap ? No! but it makes the sweet stuff that much sweeter.
Wish I had a Caramilk to send you -they don't sell them here. I promise to celebrate sweetness day here in your honor, wise One.
May the day be sweet !

Beth said...

There's such a thing as a cyber hug - will a cyber Caramilk do?

(something even sweeter - perhaps? - coming your way soon - have one more episode left of Season 2 and then it will be all yours...)

judipatootie said...

applepud??what a hoot!!!! I'm trying to get purged, we are laying wood floors in the house soon..trying to thin out as much as I caan,I have missed blogging

WrightStuff said...

My son usually leaves his sweatshirt behind. Every week he loses one at least twice. They all turn up eventually - I think they must go on secret days out together. The backpack is probably with the sweatshirt right now taking in a movie!