I'm One of the Lucky Ones!

Sometimes I get mad about my circumstances!

Hiya, Friends!  Zoe here.  Well, today I've been lamenting that I don't have a pet lobster named Lerbert, nor do I have a disco ball.  And finally, I looked at myself in the mirror and said "ZEBbie!" ZEBbie's what I call myself, on account of my initials being Z E B.  "ZEBbie," I said, "Snap right the heck out of it!"

You know why I said that to myself, Friends?  Because I've realized that there are people out there, Big People and Little People, who'd LOVE to have the kinds of problems I have.  My problems are chiefly: a pain in the butt Mommy, having to take naps, not being tall enough to reach where the fun stuff is, and having neither disco ball nor pet lobster named Lerbert.  Occasionally, I get a rash in a sensitive spot, and I'd rather not have that, but it's nothing a little ointment can't clear up.  I've recently experienced a cold.  And I also have been teething.  All things that are actually entirely doable, and I feel bad for making such a big deal about all of that.

There are people out there who have it worse!  There are people out there with painful skin conditions that Desitin can't clear up.  I don't even want to imagine what that's like.  My friend Rozzie, my big white dog, has had awful skin conditions AND she's had a broken back, when she was a puppy smaller than me!  I ask her how she got through it all, and she said that she just took one day at a time and remembered that there are dogs out there who'd LOVE to have her kinda troubles, because she always had a warm, safe, comfortable place to sleep, a full bowl of water, and enough food.  She said it made her problems seem winnable, compared to what some dogs are up against, and I believe her. 

I wonder why things don't always go my way!

But it got me thinking.  What I've gone through with my teething and my recent cold... that was nothing compared to what Rozzie went through, with her back, and compared to what other little kids go through.  Some little kids have to literally fight for just their lives, and to them, having a stubborn molar cutting through would seem like easy-peasy!

Not having the disco ball... well, I guess that's okay.  I have a really nice nightlight that's a ladybug.  She puts red, or green, or blue stars all over my ceiling and walls and face at night.  I like to sit with Mommy in the rocking chair in my room, in the dark, and see what color stars Ladybug and I can put up on Mommy's face.  That's pretty cool.  And I can hug Ladybug if I wanna.  If I hugged a disco ball, I'd have to Windex it to get the smudges off!

The absence of Lerbert the Lobster is probably okay, too.  I bet lobster tanks can get pretty smelly, like a fishy smell, if you don't keep the tank cleaned enough.  And if you clean the tank too much, the lobster living in the tank could get pretty sick.  Then there's always the danger of somebody coming along and thinking Lerbert the Lobster is for dinner.  That'd be just awful!  Furthermore, I bet that lobsters, whether they're named Lerbert or not, are a lot of upkeep.  So there's all that I don't have to worry about, since I don't have a pet lobster.  I do have Rozzie.  I bet lotsa little kids would LOVE a dog like Rozzie.  I sure do.  And if I had to choose between Lerbert the Lobster and my Rozzie, I'd pick Rozzie every day, every time!

My pain in the butt Mommy.  Well, she's a little harder to find the positive to accentuate.  She's always chasing after me, not letting me unplug all the electrical cords and put them in my mouth.  She won't let me put my fingers where the electrical cords go.  She makes me eat plain Cheerios instead of the sweet ones.  She doesn't let me stay up very late, and she's always making me take a nap.  I hate stupid naps!  I cannot stress that enough!

But in the end, Friends, I'm one of the luckiest ducks around!

The other day, I said right to her, "Mommy, you're a pain in my butt!" and she said "You're a pain in my butt, too!  You fuss and cry, and some days there's no making you happy, and I don't know how to fix whatever's upsetting you, and that upsets me!" But then she said that she wishes I didn't cry, but in a way, she's glad I do, because whenever she hears me cry or shout or laugh- I laugh and shout a lot!- she knows I'm here and okay, and she loves me lots, and that there are parents out there who wish they could hear their little kids cry and laugh and shout just one more time, and so even on the days when I'm upset and nothing makes me happy, she's one of the lucky ones, just because I'm here.

That got me thinking.  I guess it works the other way around, too.  There are probably lots of little kids out there who wish their mommies were around to be a pain in their butt or to make them eat the plain Cheerios instead of the sweet ones, or to put them in the tub when they don't want to be in the tub and then take them out of the tub before they want to get out.  I bet there are little kids out there who wish they could take a nap, because their Mommy is there to protect them while they sleep, but she isn't.  I bet those little kids are pretty scared and lonely.

Me?  I'm never scared or lonely.  I always know when I get to eat next.  I have lotsa friends.  I have nice toys.  I guess I don't have it too bad after all.  I guess I'm one of the lucky ones!

I am one of the very luckiest of the lucky ones!