Life, it sure can come at you sideways or, hell, even underfoot. So there I am, everything’s going great, right? I’ve had a good day. From the jump, it’s been peachy. It’s 5:30 PM now. Wife and kids are home. We’re about to chow down on some grub. Before I sit down to fine dine, I walk into the living room to turn off a light. And then, bam! I step barefoot, socks only, on one of those backpack lapel pins.
And I’m talking the sharp end, the pointy part. I didn’t know what it was at the moment. I thought it was a thumbtack. So I bend down and sticking out of my foot is a pepperoni and cheese pizza lapel pin. Underneath all that gooey cheesy and mouth watering pepperoni, I can sense its sweet little invisible eyes and cute smile on its face, staring back up at me like a sociopath.
So, I’m hobbling around in the living room like a damn peg-leg pirate, all because of this damn pin. And I weigh 200 lbs. You may look at me and think I’m skinny (I prefer “lean,” thank you). But I’m no lightweight — 200 lbs. of body weight is 200 lbs. of body weight and every bit of it just stepped on a backpack pin. I look like Marv from Home Alone when he sneaks down from the window sill and steps on the ornaments Kevin McCallister laid out for his arrival.
I’m jumping on one foot, howling in pain as I call my wife in from the kitchen to inspect me. As I do I yank that sucker out from the bottom of my foot. I take off my sock and ask my wife, “Doc, what’s the prognosis? Am I gonna make it?”
And she takes a look and it’s just this little red dot. I mean, talk about anticlimactic. So we walk (I hobble) back into the kitchen to the dinner table and we sit down and chow down on some chicken nuggets and waffle fries and talk about our day.
And that’s life for you, isn’t it? One minute you’re silently reflecting on your day, realizing it’s been swell, hey, let me get this light before we eat, and the next you’re sweating, jumping around on one leg like a pogo stick, with a pizza lapel pin stuck in the bottom of your foot.
Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it’s more like a kick in the nuts or a fish hook to the groin or a pizza lapel pin stuck in your foot. But you have to keep on keeping on.
As Marv from Home Alone would say, “It’s all part of the plan!” Take the good with the bad and roll with the punches or tarantulas or paint cans to the face or you get the point. And that’s the way it should be, right? Keeps things in perspective.
Because let’s face it, life would be boring without a little bit of chaos and pain. Sometimes that pain is big and bad and crippling and can set you out on a hellish course if you’re not careful.
But there’s a lot of good in your day to day that we often overlook or forget about when the pain catches you off guard. And even the bad sometimes isn’t a deep hole in your soul (or sole, see what I did there?). It’s merely a tiny red dot that you’ll forget about in a few days. That is, unless you write about it on your blog for thousands of people to read and have a digital footprint (boom! did it again) to look back on in years to come.
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2 replies on “Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows”
When I was 17 I stepped on a roofing nail because I was chasing Whitney. I was barefoot, it was Black Friday, and I stepped on it as soon as my heel hit the ground but I kept running. I thought I had stepped on a rock but the pain didn’t stop, it got worse. Halfway across our backyard, I let Whitney get away and I looked down and saw the nail sticking out of my foot. I screamed. She said she was going to get dad, I told her not to because he would hurt me. I pulled it out myself and then let her get Dad. I passed out as soon as we got to the top of the steps of the back porch and he caught me as I was falling out of the doorway, towards the brick steps and the hard ground. Being Black Friday he had to call Dr. Wilson in Keysville to see if she would be able to give me a tetanus shot. I hated needles, HATED them. She didn’t give a shit. She didn’t let me get my full protest out before she stabbed me in the arm and sent me back outside to get in the truck and go back home. I will never forget that experience. You’re right, one minute it’s all fun and games, and the next minute you’re at Dr. Wilson’s getting no sympathy for the roofer’s leaving some of their things behind. Hope you’re all doing well!
That’s hilarious, but the real question is: why were you chasing Whitney around the yard at 17 years of age? Haha. I had a similar experience when I was younger. I stepped on an old rusty nail in the woods playing in, I mean near, that’s right: near, an old abandoned building. I don’t recall too much of it now other than being carried in Robbie and Jeremiah’s arms from about a mile away in the woods back to my house with a nail and a plank attached to it in my foot. They laid me down on my front porch as my mom came out of the house. And yep, like you, off to the doc. I went up to Lynchburg and that guy was old school like Dr. Wilson it sounds like. No real empathy. Just jabbed me with the tetanus shot and sent me on my merry way while I about passed out from the pain in my foot and now arm.