Hopefully, at least a few of you are as old as I am and remember when 7-UP first launched its now famous tag line, "The Uncola," in 1967. I'm not sure which is more impressive, the fact that I can actually remember quite a few things from my 9th year of life or that The Uncola ad campaign set 7-UP apart from its competitors and created a counter culture that symbolized being true to yourself and challenging the status quo ... okay, okay ... the impact of The Uncola campaign is definitely more impressive than the stuff I can remember from when I was a kid.
I had a bad day on Friday ... a really, really bad day ... one of those days when I felt lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut. All morning, I tried to pull myself out of the funk I was in, and the harder I tried to pull myself up, the deeper I sank. Ever see one of those old movies where someone gets stuck in quicksand? Hmmm ... I wonder why there doesn't seem to be quicksand in movies anymore ... now that I think about it, I can't remember when I've seen a scene where someone gets swallowed by quicksand. But back to what I was saying ... sometimes when I get in a funk, I feel like I'm in quicksand ... the more I struggle and fight to get out of the funk, the faster I get sucked down inside of it. Not that I've ever been in quicksand, mind you, so I really have no clue what it feels like ... unless you count when I stood in the sand at the beach and the waves would go back out and suck my feet down into the sand. I guess that is sort of like being in quicksand, and it's a completely helpless feeling, like I'm stuck and I can't get out. And Friday was most definitely a quicksand kind of day ... most, most definitely.
As is often the case with many of my super sad, snake's belly in a wagon rut, quicksand kind of days, I feel very "un." Unloved, unhappy, unneeded, unacknowledged, unwanted, unappreciated, untrusted, unnecessary, unsafe, unimportant, unnoticed, unable, unacceptable, unworthy, undeserving, unsociable, unqualified, unremarkable, unliked, unjoined, unconnected ... you understand ... on those bad days, I feel very "un." I came home from work, took Ollie for a walk, played with Julie and went to bed, hoping and praying that when I woke up the next morning, my worse than usual case of the "uns" would be gone. Unfortunately, however, my normal weekend blues only served to ratchet my "un" feelings up to a whole new level with the arrival of Saturday morning. I have no doubt whatsoever that had I not had an appointment I couldn't miss, I would have spent a good part of my Saturday in bed with the covers pulled over my head. Trust me ... those "uns" can be really, really, really unfun all the way around.
It was as I was doing yard work this afternoon that a thought came charging into my brain ... I am in desperate need of an "un" cure. I need to feel needed and loved and safe and able and worthy and appreciated and all the other opposites of the "uns" I've been feeling. And the best "un" cure I know of is a little gal who thinks the sun rose and set in her Ghee ... a little gal who doesn't give a rip about all the other stuff and just knows that she loves her Ghee ... a little gal with a new baby sister who hasn't met her Ghee yet. I'm pretty darned sure that the "un" cure I so desperately need is to spend some time in the northland with my precious little granddaughters Coraline and Amelie. So, even though I dread, dread, dread getting on the airplane, in a couple of days, I'll be heading to Canada to soak in some baby and toddler time ... and to give two really tired parents some much-needed help and support.
The "un" cure ... maybe the secret ingredient to that cure is simple ... maybe the secret ingredient is love.
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