I made a quick stop at a neighborhood GetGo earlier this afternoon — which happens to be December 25, a day when I typically try to avoid stores of any kind at all costs. For those of you outside of the Midwest or East Coast, GetGo is a chain of gas station / grocery mart plazas in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.
On my way out of the store, I made sure to wish the clerk behind the counter a merry Christmas. She smiled and thanked me, and wished the same for me. I told her I was sorry she had to work today, but she said she was glad to be working, otherwise she’d be at home with nothing to do. She chuckled and said, “I don’t want to be at home today.” I sensed a sad story behind it all.
When I got home five minutes later, my wife and son were there, along with my wife’s parents, who are spending Christmas with us. If I’d been gone any more than a half-hour, they would have wondered about me. If I’d been gone for more than hour, they would have worried.
I spent the days leading up to Christmas stressing about an unexpected and ill-timed home maintenance issue that took us by surprise and created some challenges around the holiday. The fix will likely be costly, but no one’s health or safety has been compromised in any way. We made the best of an adverse situation, and we had a pleasant day in spite of everything.
I make no claim to be a wise man. I sometimes obsess about stupid things, and I occasionally have to learn the same lessons over and over again. But I also believe that Christmas is about looking at the world in a different way, and hopefully a better way.
So my note to self in the last hours of this Christmas Day: Count your blessings and don’t sweat the small stuff. (And the part about how “it’s all small stuff,” although hard to believe sometimes, is probably true.) If you’re in a safe and comfortable place on Christmas Day and surrounded by good people — or even if you’re sharing the day with just one good person — don’t take that experience for granted. Not everyone has the luxury.
All of us, in some way or another, are trying to fix something that’s broken — and sometimes the fix is costly. It’s a hard job, even at Christmas time.
Especially at Christmas time.