The Best "Worst Day Ever"

Yesterday was one of those days that I thought to myself "This is the worst day ever". It started out great. I got up at 5:30 and got ready for work. It just so happened that my hair turned out perfectly (like I just stepped out of a salon - ha ha), my make up looked good. I easily fastened a pair of pants that I bought 2 weeks ago that are starting to get loose. I put on a beautiful turquoise silk blouse and shiny silver earrings and off I went to work. Feeling great and ready for the day. I got to work at 6:45 a.m. and opened the store by 7:00. It was going to be a good day.

There is a homeless guy that sleeps right outside the store. He isn't seen by customers or anything because he is at the side of the store so the only people that really see him are the employee's. He actually is blocking our employee entrance half the time and we all just kind of step over him. He has been around for years, is perfectly harmless, and in a way I think of him as our personal security guard. Several mornings a week I have to wake him up to move because we have to move racks in and out of that door. I open the store at 7:00, but usually let him sleep until 8 or so until I go out to wake him up. I usually have to say "Reggie, Reggie, it's just me, but I need access to the door now". Half the time I scare him even though it is the same routine every week. This past month we have had some unusually cold weather for Sacramento. Some nights it has been in the 20's. I feel so sorry for Reggie. He seems like such a bright individual and he never begs or causes any problems. I feel bad that he is out in the cold and has to sleep on the hard ground. I have on several occasions been tempted to give him money. But I am always worried that homeless people will go spend it on alcohol or something that isn't good for them. It's like I want to help, but I want to control what they do with my help. Well for the past 1 1/2 months I have really felt like I need to do something for him. I have ignored this feeling and still it keeps coming back. Yesterday, as I saw him sleeping on the cold cement I got the feeling again. "Go give him some money". I went to my purse and honestly didn't think I had much cash on me, if any. I opened up my wallet and in between some receipts I found a $20 bill. I knew this had to be for Reggie. I went outside and he was already packing up. His back was turned to me and I as opened the door he didn't turn around. He just went about his business packing up. I said "Good Morning Reggie", He replied "Good Morning Mam" I walked up to him and said "I have something for you Reggie" I held out the $20 bill. His eyes got really big and he got a big smile on his face and said "Thank you so much". I smiled back and said "Reggie I want you to have this because you are such a good person. You are special and you deserve a good meal, a hot cup of coffee, or whatever you want to use it for. I just want you to have this".

I felt really good doing that for him because I have been wanting to for so long. Again, it was going to be a good day. In fact as the day went on things went about as smooth as they possibly could. I made my rounds to all the stores and at 3:00 I had to go to one of the stores where I had an interview. I was hoping to pop in and do the interview and be home by 4:00 p.m. Well, I did do the interview, but due to a series of events, I ended up not getting off work until 10:00 p.m. That isn't what made my day so bad! It was the fact that I think every crazy customer in the world decided to come in and pick on me! I had one guy use the "F" word on the phone twice and it didn't get much better than that. Seriously, it was just one problem after another. I was beat by the time I got home at 10:20 p.m. I felt defeated, worn down, depressed, angry, frustrated, and the list just goes on and on. I came home and said to George and Gideon, "I had the worst day ever!" I walked into the kitchen and I said "I just want to have ice cream and chocolate and cookies and soda and everything I am not supposed to have" then I paused and said "but I am not going to. Because all those people that were so awful today do not deserve to be my downfall. I am not going to give any of them the satisfaction of getting me down". So instead, I had some yummy chicken that George made for dinner and a protein shake. George and Gideon listened to me vent about my day and then they went to bed.

By this time it was after midnight. It had been such a busy week that I haven't even had the chance to watch Monday nights episode of "24". So I curled up on the couch and watched it. It was awesome! I love that show. Anyway, after the show ended I reflected on my day. It started out as the "Best Day" and by the end of the day I felt it was the "Worst Day Ever". It really wasn't the worst day I had ever had. So many good things happened, especially my experience with Reggie. I started thinking about all the good things. I woke up in a nice comfortable bed, I took a hot shower, I had electricity to blow dry my hair, and I had a refrigerator to get cold water to make my protein shake. I went and got in my nice car with my heated seats and cruise control and pulled out of my garage. I have a good full-time job that I get to go to. I have a family that love me and support me in every aspect of my life. I have all my fingers and toes, and am improving my health each day. I have a strong testimony of the Church and the blessings that come from that. I have a lot of things to be thankful for. It turned out that what I thought was the "Worst Day Ever" turned out to be one of the "Best" because I am so lucky to have the things that I do.