I don’t know what happened to me this morning but I knew as soon as I woke up that I was not feeling myself.  As usual, especially after a relaxing weekend, it’s difficult to dart out of bed and get on with the day.  In most cases, whenever I feel like this I have my coffee, read during my commute and by the time I get to work I’m over it.  But not today.  For some odd reason I decided that I should treat myself to a (disgusting) Burger King breakfast.  I never, EVER eat there.  And after today, I probably won’t be eating BK for a very long time.  When I finally sat down to eat my breakfast (with the hopes that it would help me shake off my Monday blues) I discovered mouse droppings inside my french toast sticks.  That’s right, MOUSE DROPPINGS!  I was so disgusted and felt sick to my stomach.  Still, I had to shrug it off and continue my already not-so-great day.

Since I didn’t want the morning to influence the rest of my day, I though it’d be nice to go get lunch and eat it outside in the park.  The warm sun was sure to turn my day around, or so I thought.  I called my dad to say hello (since I knew he would probably be eating lunch too) and he informed me that my cousin would be visiting from out-of-town next week and if I was willing to entertain him.  The same cousin who three years ago broke into the home I was visiting while on vacation and stole my labtop, camera and some spare cash that I had lying around.  Is my father nuts?!  Does he really expect me to embrace my cousin as if nothing ever happened?  The hurtful part of the conversation was that my father never acknowledged the fact that my cousin did this to me, even when I showed him proof.  He shrugged it off as if it were no big deal and at that time it was so painful to have my father not defend me to my family.  Eventually I got over it but speaking with my dad today brought back all that anger I once had towards not only my cousin but my father for not giving the robbery any importance. 

Although both my breakfast and lunch were ruined, I remained determined to stick it out at work and not go running home, like I so desperately wanted to do at that very moment.  I engaged myself into my work and genuinely spoke with my colleagues.  I was over the mouse droppings and I was going to get over my cousin’s visit. 

On my way home from work, I stopped into Burger King and asked to speak with the manager.  When she walked over to me I calmy told her about what I had found in my breakfast.  She was mortified and quickly offered me anything I wanted from the menu.  I assured her that that was not the reason I wanted to speak with her.  I said, “I don’t want to make a big deal, I just think you should know.”  She looked at me and said, “I’m sorry.”  At that moment, I felt a huge relief.  I realized, sometimes it’s really important to be acknowledged.  And if you’re really lucky, when you’re feeling down someone will look at you and sympathize.  It really does make all the difference.