Tammi's World

Only Fun The First Time

This morning, as usual, I was up fairly early. It's a rainy day today, so I just stayed in bed, hunkered down thinkin' for a bit.

One of the things I was thinking about was how very much I hate to hand-wash dishes. Really. I can not TELL you how much I hate that. And it's never been one of my favorite chores.

But I remember when I *thought* I'd enjoy it. When I *thought* it would be fun.

I was 8 years old. I don't know why, but for a while I had been buggin' Daddy to let him help clean up the supper dishes. Oh, he let me clear the table, but anything more than that was off limits. I understand now. He just didn't want to get in trouble with Mama if those dishes weren't washed and dried perfectly. I just thought he was a spoil sport.

Well, one evening he finally caved it. He was going to let me help. I got to dry the dishes.

So we pull a chair up to the kitchen counter and got started. Daddy washin' and rinsin'. Me dryin' my little heart out. All the while singin' at the top of our lungs. Damn, I soooo wish I had a video of that.

I was workin' on Mama's favorite coffee mug. I remember, it was green.

Suddenly.....it slipped. And hit the corner of the counter just right......and busted the handle off.

Time froze. There we stood - both staring at that damned mug. To me, everything seemed like I was looking through a tunnel. Slowly, I look up at Daddy and he has this......this panicked look on his face.

My heart is racing. I didn't LOOK panicked. I WAS.

I hear, from a great distance, an agonized Tammi Kay.....What have you done?!?!?!

So I did the only thing I could.

I ran. As fast and as hard as my eight year old legs would carry me.

Round and round.

We had a fireplace that separated the dining room and the kitchen. It was a perfect "roundabout". And that was what I did. Running round and round and round

The funniest part? The fact that Daddy chased me. Round and round. All the while hollerin' for me to "Just Stop".

But I knew. I just knew. While there may be a crack in my butt then. If he caught me........it was not gonna be pretty.

Finally, I ran right into Daddy. We tumble to the floor and I realize....He's Laughing. He's laughing at me.

As he hugs me close, he tells me it's all ok. Everyone makes mistakes. We just gotta tell Mama what happened and then we'll fix it. It's all ok.

And he was right. Of course. It was all ok.

But I can promise you that was the last time EVER I offered to wash dishes because I wanted to. But I did learn a great lesson. If you break something, or something goes wrong. Just 'fess up. And fix it. Then, everything will be OK.

Well, that and runnin' in circles is not exactly the best way to solve anything.......

Posted by Tammi at August 7, 2007 06:52 AM | TrackBack