A sure-fire remedy for a down day

Well, the easy two word answer would be "that guy". That kid in the picture above. But there's more to it.

Last week Jack was having a rough week which made me in turn have a rough week. Zero sleep, lots of his fussiness, being around some super easy babies, and my phone dying, then replacing it, then having me drop it and shatter its screen. Not a banner week. Right about the time I shattered the glass screen, I was grumpy and decidedly not as enthused by all the strangers telling me how cute my kid was. Yeah, he's cute, but he's not a walk in the park. Okay, I'll admit it, I was in a bad mood. For a few days. (Shocking, I know.)

One afternoon I loaded the little guy into the car and headed to the store where they could fix my phone screen. I wasn't too excited to be pouring another couple hundred dollars into this phone. But off I went and Jack and I had to kill 25 minutes while they fixed it. Strapped in the Bjorn, we headed to the nearest shelter from the 92 degree heat which happened to be a Children's Place store. I walked in and saw a display of baby glasses on sale for $2.99. That's about what I was willing to spend on something I assumed would be mostly a novelty item. I grabbed the coolest pair (evidence above) and got in line. There was only one other woman in line, at the cashier, and she seemed to be returning about 50 items and purchasing another 10. Now, I've never worked retail but I imagine it can be hell dealing with certain customers. Namely, women like this woman. She was pretty short and rude with the cashier who clearly didn't deserve it. The transaction took a long time but I didn't have anywhere to go so I didn't care. The customer cared though because she took her bag at the end and walked off in a huff. The poor cashier woman looked utterly dejected. I cautiously approached the counter with a smile and said "I'm only getting these sunglasses, it'll be easy." At that moment, Jack turned on the charm and unleashed the biggest smile at her. Her entire face and lit up and said "That's just what I needed" and proceeded to ooh and ahh all over him. She told me that he made her feel much better and at that moment I felt guilty about having been grumpy about his fussiness all week. Sure, he can be difficult but that smile makes it all worth it.

As I paid, she insisted on taking the tags off and putting the sunglasses on Jack because "she just had to see how cute he was going to look." Well, she wasn't disappointed.