Thinking About My Day

From the moment Alexander got up that morning, he just knew it was going to be a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”  The chewing gum he forgot to take out of his mouth the night before is now stuck in his hair.  He gets out of his bed and trips on his skateboard, and then drops his sweater in the sink under running water.  His brothers find prizes in their breakfast cereal boxes.  But Alexander only finds breakfast cereal in his box.

He doesn’t get a window seat on the way to school and his teacher says she likes Paul’s picture of a sailboat rather than his picture of an invisible castle (a blank piece of paper).  His teacher tells him during the singing time that he is singing too loud and at counting time she tells him he forgot the number 16.  At recess his best friend tells him that Alexander isn’t his best friend, but rather his third best friend.  Alexander hopes his best friend Paul sits on a tack!  He hopes, too, that the next time Paul has an ice cream cone, the ice cream falls off the cone and lands somewhere in Australia.    At lunch time his friends all have special treats in their lunch bags, two cupcakes for Phillip, a jellyroll for Paul.  Alexander’s mother forgot to put dessert in his lunch bag.

After school his mother takes Alexander and his brothers to the dentist.  The dentist finds a cavity only in Alexander.  His brothers have none. Leaving the dental office, the elevator door closes on Alexander’s foot.  Then his brother pushes him into a mud puddle and when he starts crying his brother calls him a crybaby.  He punches his brother for calling him a crybaby and his mother gets after him for being muddy and for fighting with his brother.  And Alexander’s “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” just seems to go on and on, ending that night with his brother taking back the bed pillow he said Alexander could keep, and the cat wanting to sleep with his brother rather than with Alexander.  Have you ever had such a day?

I’m off to see the periodontist this morning and you know what I’m thinking?  I’m thinking it is going to be a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”  But I guess I’m making a mountain out of a molehill.  I do not have chewing gum stuck in my hair, and I didn’t trip over a skateboard when I got out of bed, and so far I haven’t dropped my sweater in the sink under running water, and I had eggs and toast for breakfast so I didn’t even check to see if there was a prize for me in the cereal box.  And I don’t have to go to school and be tormented by either a teacher or a so-called friend.  And, after seeing the periodontist I won’t have to worry about any special treat for lunch, because I won’t be able to eat any lunch at all!  Maybe it won’t be such a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” after all.