Have a Beautiful Day

This morning, after dropping my kids off at school, I ran to the grocery store to pick up cat food. I had made the horrible mistake of running out of feline food on Sunday night and my three kitties were on the verge of joining my Lab in eating the living room furniture.

After nearly parking my car in the space reserved for expectant mothers (the only time I want more children), I rushed into the store, quickly grabbed a cart and headed straight for the cat food. While I wheeled my basket at dangerous speeds, almost knocking down (accidentally, of course) an elderly lady on aisle five, I prayed today wasn't the day they stocked the cat food aisle.

The reason being is that on my last several trips to the grocery store, I had been plagued by delays due to the fact that everything I needed seemed to be on an aisle which was being stocked. And when I say stocked, I don't mean stocked by one lowly store clerk. I'm talking like a huge group of serious looking folks who all stare at you like "what the hell do you want?". And they don't move.

So, while I worried about running into the stocking clan along with calling out apologies to the elder lady on aisle five, I wasn't happy to be in the grocery store. And to make matters worse, I needed to get home immediately to begin work on two newsletters and one article I had due today.

After grabbing the cat food without incident (the clan was on the shampoo aisle, luckily), I rushed to the checkout counter and waited impatiently for my turn. When it finally came, I busied myself by trying to mentally will the checkout girl to go a bit faster with her scanning so I could book it out of Dodge.

While I was working on my telepathic powers of persuasion, I failed to pay much attention to the man sacking my groceries. The reason for this is that the man, Todd, is someone I see quite frequently. And because he and I seem to have some script we go by every time I come into the store, I guess I didn't put much thought into our conversation.

"Will plastic be okay?" - TODD

"Sure."-ME

"Is everything okay with you today?"-TODD

"Great. And you?"-Me

"It's fantastic."-TODD

But as I grabbed my receipt and started to head out the door, Todd changed the script. Instead of telling me to have a good day like he usually does, he told me to have a beautiful day. A beautiful day. Not a wonderful day. Not a good day. But a beautiful day.

For some reason, I walked out of the store a bit slower than I walked in. His words had spoken to me. They opened my eyes to what was around me, forcing me to see that despite my impatience, despite the fact that I almost injured a woman with a walker, despite the fact I had too much work to do today and not enough time to do it, it was a beautiful day.

For the rest of the day I thought about Todd and what he had said. I couldn't get the thought out of my head that what was said to me was what I needed to hear. And to pass on.

So to all of you, have a beautiful day!