Life’s lemons: Some days are just sour
A squeeze of lemon.
That’s all I wanted when I opened the fridge at 6:32 this morning.
It’s my daily ritual. Two tea bags.
One packet of Sweet n’ Low.
One squeeze of lemon. Instead of a simple grab, I came face to face with disaster.
Is there something going on with the alignment of the planets? It’s been a heck of a week.
Everyone seems to be struggling.
That includes Husband. He somehow managed to skip getting wisdom teeth pulled as a young man. His dentist and oral surgeon insisted it was time they come out.
This explains the three huge holes in his jaws, his pain, his discomfort.
My intention was to do what we caretakers do: figure out how I could help, set him up for success.
This is why last night I made a big pot of oatmeal. Between the pain and medications, he had had no appetite, but I figured I’d make the oatmeal, store it in the fridge and he’d be able to grab it anytime he got hungry today.
No good intention goes unpunished.
I noticed there were crumbs all over my container of pre-sliced lemons.
I quickly realized these weren’t crumbs. They were shards of glass. In fact, the entire fridge was coated in a major snowfall of tiny, jagged little pieces.
The tilted container on the top shelf gave up the rest of the story.
I must have put the oatmeal away when it was still too hot. I’m no scientist, but I believe the combination of the heat and cooling shattered the glass shelf. Being the over-achiever I am, I had put the oatmeal on the very top shelf, setting up the cascade of glass shards over every corner, nook, and cranny of the fridge.
I slumped in defeat. After a week of caring for my husband and others who have been struggling, I am so tired. On top of that, I had a day full of back-toback work projects I’ve fallen behind on. I did not have a two-hour window available to do a fridge cleanout, complete with picking up the tiniest pieces of glass one-by-one.
And yet,
There was no choice. No one else to take this on.
Can you imagine a better backdrop for a pity party, Dear Reader?
The more good I try to do the bigger mess I seem to make.
I emptied the fridge and started in. I did one shelf,
took a call. Did another glass pick up, wrote some copy. Somehow, I made it through the day and the clean up.
The punch line? Much like Husband’s wisdom teeth, I think we’re going to function better without that extra shelf.
My fridge looks so clean and organized it could show up on an Instagram foodie influencer account.
Here’s to doing what needs to get done even when you swear there is no gas in your tank and no time in your day, and the pain we go through in getting rid of the things we no longer need.
A Network News Anchor’s Thoughts On Losing Her Job, Finding Love, A New Career, And My Dog, Always My Dog” and Executive Director of the Just One More Foundation. Email her at Daryn@ darynkagan.com.