Post # 197
Besides working at the library from 1990 to 2010 I had various part time jobs after my youngest became an adult. I would put in my 8 hours at the library, leave at 6 p.m., grab something to eat and then go to another job for 4 more hours from 7 p.m until midnight. One was working for a power company at their call center. We took payments, set up service, basic customer service. We also took calls during power outages. Oh my, the stories I could tell you about those calls. People without power in a winter storm can be very unhappy people. I worked in a call center in TX but took calls from Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan where winters can get pretty nasty. I stocked at Wal-Mart. I worked in towels & bedding but during the holiday season I had to help out in toys. Stocking, put things back where they belong, answering phone calls from frantic parents looking for a specific toy that had been sold out for weeks. They can be unhappy people too if you have the wrong answer. No one has lived until they have worked the Wal-Mart toy department during Christmas or took calls from customers in a storm after days without heat! A long time ago I noticed that I tend to remember every unkind, hurtful thing anyone ever said to me but nice things I tend to forget. One day at a bookstore I found a small spiral notebook with a bumblebee on it that said "Bee Happy." I got it and decided to write down every time someone paid me a compliment that meant something to me, when someone sincerely said something nice, and when things just tickled my funny bone. Just anything that made me "bee happy". Way too often I just didn't find the time to write things down but it was a great idea and I wish I had written down more things. One of the things that just cracked me up was something my grandson said to me when he was little, and it still cracks me up just as much. Anytime I am getting sad I remind myself to think of what Travis said to me...I will get to that in a moment. Yesterday on "The View" Paula Deen was a guest. I forgot what she was talking about but she said 'head' just like my youngest grandson did when he was a toddler ... pronounced more like hay-ED. Whenever Paula said hay-ED it would just crack up Sharon Osbourne. I like Paula Deen. Southern. Butter. Funny. Nice. Strong. Determined. Inspiring. She has a very interesting biography--- Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' . In her book she talks about a 20 year battle with agoraphobia, the fear of being outside of one’s home or in a crowded area. She says her fear was so intense that even going to the supermarket was a challenge. “I learned to cook with the ingredients they kept close to the door,” she told the New York Times. That she could overcome agoraphobia and do the things she does today is an inspiration to me. I have struggled with agoraphobia since my first major panic attack when I was about 33...a long time ago. Most people that know me casually would never guess because I could function pretty well as long as I was with people I considered "safe" or places that I considered "safe." I suspect Paula can do what she does because of her husband and her sons being her "safe" people. For the past two years I haven't had that many "safe" people or "safe" places that I can be around. But anyway, there is a special place in my heart for Paula Deen and then yesterday when she said "hay-ED" like my grandson did, that was just too funny! My grandson, Travis, did not have to talk for a long time because his older brother, Mason, was always eager to speak for and take care of his little brother. Mason is 17 months older. When they were about 2 and 3 Travis said his first sentence! I had this box of Velcro rollers. For all of my children's lives I kept my hair in a very short pixie cut (4 kids & 1 bathroom, it was just easier that way) but every now and then I would let it grow out some and then I would roll it up with these Velcro rollers when I felt like curls. Since I seldom used them but they were in my room my grandsons would occasionally find them and play with them, sticking them together to build things, like playing with Legos, except....not. Well, this one day my daughter came to my apartment and I had my hair in rollers. She was holding Travis in her arms, he was about 2, and he looked at me with this astonished look and he said his first sentence to me....."WHAT dhat on U hay-ED????" His eyes never wavered from the rollers in my hair. After a second of being astounded that he could say so many words plainly enough for us to recognize, I told him that it was just my rollers, and reminded him that he sometimes played with them. Eyes glued on my head he shuttered like this vision of me in rollers was the scariest thing he could even imagine and then he said "Well, get dhat OFF U hay-ED!!!" Maybe you had to be there for it to be funny to someone other than me, but no matter how depressed I am just thinking of that can make me smile.
Besides working at the library from 1990 to 2010 I had various part time jobs after my youngest became an adult. I would put in my 8 hours at the library, leave at 6 p.m., grab something to eat and then go to another job for 4 more hours from 7 p.m until midnight. One was working for a power company at their call center. We took payments, set up service, basic customer service. We also took calls during power outages. Oh my, the stories I could tell you about those calls. People without power in a winter storm can be very unhappy people. I worked in a call center in TX but took calls from Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota and Michigan where winters can get pretty nasty. I stocked at Wal-Mart. I worked in towels & bedding but during the holiday season I had to help out in toys. Stocking, put things back where they belong, answering phone calls from frantic parents looking for a specific toy that had been sold out for weeks. They can be unhappy people too if you have the wrong answer. No one has lived until they have worked the Wal-Mart toy department during Christmas or took calls from customers in a storm after days without heat! A long time ago I noticed that I tend to remember every unkind, hurtful thing anyone ever said to me but nice things I tend to forget. One day at a bookstore I found a small spiral notebook with a bumblebee on it that said "Bee Happy." I got it and decided to write down every time someone paid me a compliment that meant something to me, when someone sincerely said something nice, and when things just tickled my funny bone. Just anything that made me "bee happy". Way too often I just didn't find the time to write things down but it was a great idea and I wish I had written down more things. One of the things that just cracked me up was something my grandson said to me when he was little, and it still cracks me up just as much. Anytime I am getting sad I remind myself to think of what Travis said to me...I will get to that in a moment. Yesterday on "The View" Paula Deen was a guest. I forgot what she was talking about but she said 'head' just like my youngest grandson did when he was a toddler ... pronounced more like hay-ED. Whenever Paula said hay-ED it would just crack up Sharon Osbourne. I like Paula Deen. Southern. Butter. Funny. Nice. Strong. Determined. Inspiring. She has a very interesting biography--- Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin' . In her book she talks about a 20 year battle with agoraphobia, the fear of being outside of one’s home or in a crowded area. She says her fear was so intense that even going to the supermarket was a challenge. “I learned to cook with the ingredients they kept close to the door,” she told the New York Times. That she could overcome agoraphobia and do the things she does today is an inspiration to me. I have struggled with agoraphobia since my first major panic attack when I was about 33...a long time ago. Most people that know me casually would never guess because I could function pretty well as long as I was with people I considered "safe" or places that I considered "safe." I suspect Paula can do what she does because of her husband and her sons being her "safe" people. For the past two years I haven't had that many "safe" people or "safe" places that I can be around. But anyway, there is a special place in my heart for Paula Deen and then yesterday when she said "hay-ED" like my grandson did, that was just too funny! My grandson, Travis, did not have to talk for a long time because his older brother, Mason, was always eager to speak for and take care of his little brother. Mason is 17 months older. When they were about 2 and 3 Travis said his first sentence! I had this box of Velcro rollers. For all of my children's lives I kept my hair in a very short pixie cut (4 kids & 1 bathroom, it was just easier that way) but every now and then I would let it grow out some and then I would roll it up with these Velcro rollers when I felt like curls. Since I seldom used them but they were in my room my grandsons would occasionally find them and play with them, sticking them together to build things, like playing with Legos, except....not. Well, this one day my daughter came to my apartment and I had my hair in rollers. She was holding Travis in her arms, he was about 2, and he looked at me with this astonished look and he said his first sentence to me....."WHAT dhat on U hay-ED????" His eyes never wavered from the rollers in my hair. After a second of being astounded that he could say so many words plainly enough for us to recognize, I told him that it was just my rollers, and reminded him that he sometimes played with them. Eyes glued on my head he shuttered like this vision of me in rollers was the scariest thing he could even imagine and then he said "Well, get dhat OFF U hay-ED!!!" Maybe you had to be there for it to be funny to someone other than me, but no matter how depressed I am just thinking of that can make me smile.
2 comments:
LOL! This post made my day! Too funny, I could picture the whole event. Hay-ED! Too Cuuuute!
I was in hopes that it would make you laugh! I hope you are having a good day and everyone at your home feels well today!
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