A Real Treat

I work at two schools.  

One school makes popcorn for the teacher's lounge almost every single day.  

The other school makes popcorn for the teacher's lounge once in a blue moon on a random Friday.  They like to throw the dart at the Shall We Make Popcorn wheel and see if it lands on a ding ding, Yes You Shall! 

The Friday before St. Patrick's day was a ding, ding day at the dart throwing school.  Mid-morning, I walked into the lounge with my water jug and my orange; did a little visiting and proceeded to whap my head on the water cooler.  It's a blessing I gave up being suave and collected a long, long time ago.  So there I stood.  Orange in hand.  Looking out at a sea of popcorn and people enjoying the popcorn.

I walked back to my room to peel my orange instead so I didn't smell like butter for the rest of the day.  Sometimes I'm okay with smelling like butter.  That day, I wasn't feeling butter perfume.  As I stood over my garbage, doing the peeling, I thought about this...

Treats.  They are an interesting concept.  School that has popcorn every day doesn't think of it as a treat.  It's there.  All the time.  They just get a little if they want a little.  Dart throwing popcorn school thinks of popcorn as a real treat.  Excited when they smell it floating down the halls.  Embracing the fluffed up yum that will come.  

Where am I going with this?  

I know.  

Treats are important.  Whether it's wearing a darker shade of lipstick or eating some Peanut M&M's while laying in the sun or meeting friends for an after work coffee date or wearing sparkly jewelry (that one can not really be considered a treat in my world...I over-do that treat...every day) or letting a baby sleep in your arms for a bit before laying her down or going grocery shopping with a friend or blowing bubbles in the spring sun without rushing to clean it up.

Treats are a fabulous and dare I say imperative part of life.  But I have the perfectionist personality which can mean I have a hard time not feeling guilty about treats and I'm working on kicking that guilt to the curb.  As long as a treat doesn't become an all the time, it is not worthy of my guilt.

  

Staying constantly focused on the track of this is what I should be doing right now or I have so much on my list to get done or that has sugar in it is limiting to enjoying life.  It really is.  It can become debilitating quick.  The practice of always remaining eye on the prize can often lead to missing the ding ding winner moments along the way.   

After my orange was peeled, I walked back out into the hallway and two little first grade poptarts came running up to another teacher and I.  They were yelling, "A leprechaun came to our room!  He came!"  There was jumping and fist pumping and giggling and I was hit with the, well isn't this just a unicorn moment.  The other teacher told the girls, "Sing.  Let's hear you sing."  

The two broke out into a rendition of Amazing Grace and I was hit with the, well here comes the glitter to throw off the unicorn moment.  

It was a real treat.  Not all treats come in the form of planned events or sweets, some come flying in when you least expect it.  As long as we aren't moving too fast to notice, they seem to keep arriving.  Yes, life's about taking the time to slow down for treats.  And about allowing ourselves to be imperfect in all areas of our lives at times.  Guilt free.