Enjoy the Little Things...

I learned something today.

Not that I don't learn something new everyday, but today I felt something different. I learned something worth remembering. Enjoy the little things.

Being a Sunday morning, and knowing that I didn't have to work I was hoping to be able to sleep in. Little did I know that I would be woken up at 9 so that I could help my mom do the laundry. On a normal day I wouldn't have to help my mom with the laundry, but since our dryer broke we've had to go to a laundromat to dry our previously washed clothes.

Now maybe it's the weather or the fact that I've been extra tired lately, but I woke up cranky today. I mean, I was in a very very bad mood and depressed state. And on top of that, I was in no mood to do laundry at a nasty laundromat. Don't get me wrong, I know this is preparing me for college days, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet. I much prefer being a little spoiled and yes, maybe snobby, and do my laundry in the privacy of my own home, not in a place where everyone else puts in their underwear and whatnot.

Anyways, so we pull into this "Kwikwash" place and it's packed with people that (I know this is going to sound bad) I don't normally associate with. I always try not to be judgemental, but with the way this day was going, I guess that just wasn't the first thing I thought of doing. I saw all these people and I couldn't help it, my eyes teared up and I was refusing to go inside. I know that makes me a brat but it just didn't seem fair.

Then, as if it was a gift from God, a friend of a friend walked into the laundromat. A girl I would have never expected to be in 'financial difficulties' was happily doing her laundry with her mom at the place I was too ashamed to go into. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was so humbling to see this and know that no matter what, I'm never alone.

After getting my act together, I went in and helped my mom put the things in the drier. We sat down at a booth far away from anyone else and she asked me if I wanted to play "May I?" We sat there for a while playing our favorite card game and talking about how gross we felt in that place. The two hours passed by faster than I've ever experienced and I guess you could say that my mom and I had a "bonding" moment in the process. It had been a long time since we had just 'hung out' like that, since we had bonded.

As for the girl from my school, I no longer have to feel awkward around her. I can feel like we're equal, instead of one of us being better than the other. Her being there also helped me realize that we never really know what everyone's lives are like. Even though we each put up a great facade, it's only a mask to hide all the things that really get to us. All our secrets, our real selves.

After all, I don't really know how many of those people were in ther for the same reason I was. With the eay the economy is going it's possible that half those people were in there because they too don't have the money to just go out and buy a new washer/dryer as soon as their old one breaks down. Seeing her there was a reminder to not judge others based on appearance, to not judge others at all.

"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven" Luke 6:37

Remember, enjoy the little things because someday, those little things may not be there for you to enjoy.