This holiday season is known for
spending time with family. Those moments can be joyful, dreadful or a
nauseatingly sickly combination of both. For every high there is a
low and with sweet comes the sour. There is an opportunity in most
situations to turn the setting on its ear and find the joy in the
sorrow. Hold on! Don't worry, I haven't turned into some glassy eyed
Pollyanna. I'm about to get honest. I have found myself in plenty of
situations where I've sat marinading in the sour. I'm human and prone
to have occasions where I pout, or sit with arms folded the inside
corners of my eyebrows wrinkling downward at the thought of not
getting my way (and that's just yesterday). But today I'm going to
share something that happened over 10 years ago.
I once worked in an office that was in
the refrigerator section of a warehouse that supplied grocery stores.
I worked the late evening shift and I was the only female there in
the evenings. The men who worked in the warehouse pulling orders off
of pallets and stacking them in big trucks for shipping would come in
to get their orders from me. It was a very eclectic group of men but
like most environments they would break off into groups like high
school cliques and have some varied reason to argue, spew profanity,
or hate each other for varied reasons. One evening it became
particularly toxic. Racial were slurs flying through the air like
shrapnel. This particular evening was the war between the American's
and the South Americans. Visual daggers, obscene finger language, and
verbal assaults were growing and I honestly thought at one point
there would be actual physical altercations. On my dinner break I
left the warehouse to get out of that noxious cloud of negativity.
Driving around trying to clear my head was futile and the days events
flooded my mind. “Okay God, what do I do?” I said as I made my
way into a grocery store parking lot. At that moment I remembered
something my Grammy said to me regarding an incident with family over
Thanksgiving. “When things get tense, and people start to act ugly,
bring out dessert. It's hard to argue with sweet deliciousness in
your mouth.” I smiled then sighed realizing I hadn't the time or a
kitchen to make dessert and I was certainly unprepared to spend a wad
of (non-existing) cash. I dug around in the bottom of my purse
looking for any change then proceeded to dig in my pockets. A
crumpled up five dollar bill and some change was all I had and I
seriously doubted that was enough to feed the masses. I found myself
wandering around in the 24 hour grocery for several minutes when I
saw a basket with discounted items. As I rummaged through at the very
bottom was a bag of miniature lollipops. I pulled out the bag
realizing it was residual Halloween candy. The bag was pretty big so
even if it was fifty percent off I may not have enough funds. I took the bag to the register for a price check and was pleasantly surprised that I had exactly enough. Divine order. :-)
When I arrived back at the warehouse things
were not any better so I made my way back to the office with a plan.
As I handed someone an order I also handed them a lollipop. Before
long the whole place was quiet and I walked out into the warehouse
smiling as the men were driving their pallets around loading and
unloading items with little white sticks protruding from their lips.
Little pacifiers of sweetness to plug up the raging sour.
So
this holiday season when your Aunt so-and-so gets a little sour. Cut
her the biggest slice of cake and relish in the sweet quiet. (Unless
of course she's diabetic, then there would be that awkward moment
when she realizes you're trying to kill her) That's not exactly what
I had in mind. ;-)
Recognize
the sour and replace it with the sweet.
