Well what would you do?

My little buddy had a bad experience yesterday. I made a chicken stew and decided to teach him a life lesson, and demonstrate love and kindness through sharing. I told Liam we were going to walk across the (seldom busy) four-lane street and bring some food to the elderly farmers, 89 and 92, who are no longer mobile and appreciate every visitor.

I gave him a red, light-up, holiday pen and a pad of paper so he could draw pictures while I visited. As I was juggling the food and the 2 year-old, he dropped his pen in the middle of the street. It was all I could do to keep him from darting back for it. Three cars came by; two avoided his pen, but the third one hit it and smashed it to smithereens. He was aghast. "That car breaked my red pen!"

I empathized matter-of-factly as we walked up the driveway. "I'm sorry, honey. When cars hit things they break."

We got the mail out of the box and took it inside to the gentlemen farmers who used to farm from sun rise to sundown.

Were they ever surprised and appreciative of the meal. Last week when we visited, Liam wouldn't speak to them and hid his eyes. They were so happy when he walked in and greeted them by name! He shocked me that he remembered their names. He handed them their mail and began talking a mile a minute. He must have repeated the story ten times. "That bad car smashed my red pen in the street."

They got the biggest kick out of him when he resolved the problem himself. "Well, that's okay. Nana buy me a blue one." We are on day 2 and he is still telling everyone he sees, "That bad car breaked my red pen in the street."

How do you handle disappointment? Are you resilient? Do you dwell on your loss? Focus on misfortune, or move on? An editor's rejection  is seldom an opinion about your writing. It's usually related to editorial needs at the moment. 

The lesson I intended to teach Liam turned into one for me.