So conversation started in a very casual way about the fact that this particular fun kids event was happening this Friday night, which also just happens to be Friday the 13th. The discussion instigated as to, “Isn’t it rather unlucky to have a Valentine’s dance on Friday the 13th.” I sat in silence for a few seconds as we received the green light and I proceeded the rest of the way home.
“Well…. ” I replied, “I don’t think I truly believe in ‘unlucky’.”
With that a curt chat was has about how I feel even if a situation occurs to someone and they deem this particular thing as a very “unlucky” circumstance…. there is something extremely lucky about it. Whether we know so at the very moment how or why we feel the negativity (or rather ‘unlucky’) more over the ‘lucky’ may just be a matter of mind over matter. A glass half-empty or half-full? An open mind about the negativity presented to us helps us see a clearer path to what life’s trying to teach us, share with us, enlighten us with, etc. at that very moment in time.
Take the car key for instance. I, for one, felt that day was a pretty unlucky day …. in every sense of the word, as most would describe it. But in the heat of each and every instance of the day, I truly took a deep breath to attempt to figure out the message I was to receive. Now, I can’t say that I did then…. nor quickly there after, for that matter. But come yesterday, a few months after the fact, a light bulb switched on. I have come to a place to be able to see why the (for lack of better term) ‘unlucky’ day happened to me. And I have to honestly say I am lucky that it was an unlucky day. I gained so much more from that, and needed to learn from that in the manner in which I did.
That said…..
I was pondering this through the evening. I need to drop the smaller boy off at a class, run a quicky errand to pick up some V-day candies for the impromptu V-day cards the kids decided they needed for AJCW friends for tomorrow (of course). Any rate, I’m racing like a mad woman back to the class because said small boy has been practicing super hard and I wanted to see how he far along he’s come.
I needed desperately to run to the restroom before I entered the class, and outside the door is a woman talking pretty sternly to a very young boy… no more than five or six years old. He’s huddled in the corner with wet, red, puffy eyes, sobbing, “I just don’t want to do this.” Woman replies, “Well you have to!!!”
I felt so insanely crushed for this little dude. He was so desperately trying to be heard, and none of it was having the slightest bit affect to the woman. Biting my tongue, I go into class to see my little spitfire. As I’m observing this amazing kid and his progress, I witness a man come in with two girls, one of which was appx 9-10 years old, and is om blithering tears.
She turns to the man and says something like, “how am I supposed to know any of this? This is the first time I’ve ever been here.” The man is gruff and I can’t make out what he says, but her tears increase. She is devastated that she is not heard. And not only that, but as she turns to go to her seat, the man roughly nudges her back causing her to take a double step to catch balance.
As my moral decreases, the class ends, and my little dude is beaming at his accomplishments. We are chatting about all the stuff from his class, and I think, “Wow, how lucky I am to have this opportunity to witness such bliss and joy in my son’s life.” As I ponder some more, I feel this sense of lucky all over me, and question why these poor young individuals are feeling so unlucky this evening? Why do they need that at this moment as they seem so insanely young to need to deal with this? What did they do to deserve that? Do they even deserve this? Is it possible that someone else’s unlucky can become our burden when we don’t truly ward being a part of it? Those two kiddos don’t need to harbor the burden of the adults’ unlucky day…. and yet they are (at least so it seemed). So how on earth can someone who is indirectly experiencing this unluckiness gain from this at an age where they are still too precious to be damaged?
I’m driving along and ask my boy if he truly loves his class. He says of course he does, why wouldn’t he? “Well…. I just want to be sure you do. I want you to have fun in what you do so that you learn the most you can possibly learn. When we love what we do, learning never stops!” I fill him in a tiny bit about how I saw things that made me feel very sad for these kids, and so I just want to be sure that my kids are always feeling the most lucky they can possibly feel. Even if something unlucky feels like it’s happening, we can always find the lucky within.
Of course, his next question was…..
“What’s for dinner tonight mommy?”