We've Stepped In IT Now!

​​I have a very clear memory from when I was a little girl around 7 or 8 years old running around in the front yard barefoot. Oh how I loved to go barefoot. But this one day in particular I stepped in a pile of fresh warm dog poop. Yes, oozing through my toes fresh. GROSS! But I still remember my dad carrying me through the house to the bathroom to help me clean it off. Without stepping in that mess I would not have had the chance to feel my dad carrying me. I still can feel his strong arms around me. Of course, he had carried me a million times but this one was particularly special. I would not have that memory now if not for that pile of poop.

We've all had our moments where we may have felt the horror of "stepping in it". Maybe it's waking up one day and realizing you hate your job, maybe you go to put that dress on and you can't zip it up, maybe it's waking up one morning and realizing you unintentionally said something hurtful to a friend the night before.

You can always clean off the mess. You can always change your situation, whether you leave that job or just change your attitude about it. The solution is different in every case but please know you can change it! Maybe that dress being too tight is a wake up call. It's not the worst day of your life, it's a gift of knowledge, of much needed awareness. Wow what happened there? How did this happen? Didn't I just wear this dress a year ago? I don't remember these shirt buttons being pulled across my belly like this, what the heck? Oops, I haven't been paying attention to my body changing but I can START NOW. Clean it off! Get rid of that feeling. Make a fresh start - and I mean "fresh" in a good way this time. Don't ignore the problem, move forward and fix the problem, learn from the problem.

One of my favorite things to do is re-read those adorable "I Am" poems that my kids have done over the years. They still bring tears to my eyes when I read stuff like "I Am from Tamales, I Am from books, I Am from Love". I guess one of my lines is "I Am from dog poop". Thank you Dad - I love and miss you every day!