Hello, and thanks for checking out my blog! I can’t believe we’re already in the final weeks of school. Hooray! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for summer vacation. For me, there’s no better way to mark the (almost) end of the school year than our annual field day. Who wouldn’t want a day filled with athletic competition, pizza, and hanging out with your friends? While my answer would be “yes, yes, yes!” my big sister, Jill’s was a “no, no, no.”
Unlike me, Jill likes some sports; she only eats certain kinds of pizza (it can’t be overly cheesy, oily, or have mushrooms. Obviously, no pineapple or anchovies either); and she only wants to hang out with her friends—but on her terms. Field day was not something Jill was looking forward to. Jill begged my parents to let her skip field day. She claimed she’d use the day to study for finals. My mom and dad said “absolutely not”—particularly since Jill would have plenty of time for studying.
This led to a whole chain reaction of events. Ultimately, Jill went to field day. Although she didn’t have the best time, according to Jill, it wasn’t the “worst time.” But we all knew that she ended up enjoying herself. Which brings me to the life lesson I learned thanks to Jill: If you’re anticipating something terrible, you might overlook the positive aspects of a situation. When you’re overly focused on the negatives, you might miss out on the silver linings. In other words, seek the sun; don’t always look for the clouds.
Here’s the story…
Too cool for school field day
My big sister Jill, as you may remember, is three-and-a-half years older than I. That means she’s in high school. As a typical teenager, Jill is too cool to do just about anything other than talk to her friends and get annoyed over the smallest things other people do (especially when it involves my parents or me). I’m not going to lie, my parents are pretty embarrassing, but I’m not!
Anyway, Jill didn’t want to go to her high school field day. First, she claimed that no one was going and that she’d be the only one there. We didn’t believe her.
“So the entire grade won’t be there?” my mom asked. She looked at Jill, barely blinking.
“Well, I mean, some kids will be there. But not the ‘good’ ones.” Jill clearly hadn’t thought this approach through. If there’s one big no-no in our house, it’s saying something untruthful. Especially a statement that can easily be disproven.
My mom, who once taught high school English, knew that Jill’s comment wasn’t true. That afternoon, when Jill was on the phone with her friends, my mom asked if she could speak to them. Jill originally said no, but Jill’s friends overheard our mom’s request.
“Put your mom on!” they shouted. Jill had no choice but to hand the phone over.
My mom politely inquired whether Jill’s friends were going to field day (they were). That had Jill seeing red. Literally. Her friends told us Jill’s field day team was the red team.
Weather you like it or not
Next, Jill claimed that the weather wasn’t going to be good. Even I knew that was a lame excuse. All you had to do was look up the weather forecast. The weather, as it turns out, would merely be “fine.” The forecast called for highs in the mid-sixties, and partly cloudy skies.
Unless it was going to rain or snow (hey, you never know these days), there was no chance the school would cancel field day.
Jill had a few more desperate attempts to stay home, which included: begging my parents again to let her stay home and study; complaining that she had bad allergies (she didn’t); and my favorite, letting Jill sit quietly outside and do nothing for the day. These were all met with “no’s from my parents. Jill finally accepted that she’d have to go to field day after all—looks like she’d be seeing red whether she liked it or not.
All fun and games
Despite the different activities the school had planned (“all baby games,” scoffed Jill) and having plenty of friends who were going to field day, on the morning of the event, Jill was still annoyed. She complained loudly to me about how field day was going to stink.
Except Jill said it right in front of the principal. Who overheard Jill.
“Come on in, Miss Newman,” Mrs. S called to Jill. The principal waved to me as I headed to my school entrance. “Your sister sure is lucky to have such a fun day ahead of her.” I nodded enthusiastically.
“I wish I had field day today. I can’t wait to be in high school,” I said. I smiled my biggest smile at the principal. Why not butter up the principal now, before I start in high school, right? It would be smooth sailing for me when I started ninth grade in a couple of years. Hopefully, the principal will remember me fondly from today’s conversation. “Go red team!” I added for good measure.
Jill, I’m sure, was seeing red as she rolled her eyes and trudged into school.
A sun-sational recap
When Jill came home, the first thing we noticed was how sunburned she’d gotten. Instead of seeing red, she actually became red.
“I put sunblock on in the morning. We were so busy running around all day, I guess I forgot to reapply it,” Jill said. My mom raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. My mom knew better than to say, “I knew you’d have a good time.”
“So, tell us about your day,” my mom asked ever-so-casually. “You said you were running around a lot?”
“OK fine…field day wasn’t terrible—but it wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Grammar school field days were the best.” I agreed with Jill’s assessment. Everything does seem better when you’re younger.
“Did you do sack races and tug-of-war?” I asked. “How about the softball throw or long jump? If there’s a softball throw, I will, for sure, win it.”
“Oh my gosh, for the tug-of-war, we had the biggest kid in the grade on our team. But he fell! We were all so mad that we lost.” After telling us her tug-of-war story, the field day floodgates opened. Jill had so much to share about the day. In my opinion, it sounded like Jill didn’t just have a good time, she had a great time.
I know Jill didn’t want to admit that she enjoyed herself, but we all could tell that she had. It didn’t sound like she was seeing red anymore.
Picture-perfect day
As I was getting ready for bed, I knocked on Jill’s door to borrow a hair tie (I know. I have plenty. I just wanted to ask who won the softball throw.)
I caught Jill staring at a photo.
“What’s that?” I asked. I pointed to what looked like a group photo.
“Just some friends. Someone brought their camera and took pictures today.” Jill could hardly tear her eyes away from the photo. I leaned over to take a closer look.
“There’s a good-looking boy wearing an orange shirt standing next to you in the picture,” I said. “Hubba hubba.” I elbowed Jill to be funny. Jill yanked the picture away. Hmmm…I wonder if Jill liked this handsome boy.
“He’s just a friend,” Jill said. It was like she read my mind. I tried to look at the picture again, but Jill kept the photo covered. I knew better than to push my sister in this moment. Jill’s anger was legendary when she was tired, hungry, or annoyed—I certainly didn’t want her to be seeing red for anything else today.
“Well, good for you, either way,” I said. I slowly backed out of her room just to be safe. “It looks like field day was pretty fun.” Jill tilted her head and shrugged.
“I guess,” was all she said. “But Mom and Dad don’t have to know that it wasn’t terrible. Let’s just keep it between us. You know, in case I don’t want to go next year.”
“Sure thing, Jill.” I smiled, then left without saying another word. I bet Jill went back to looking at her pictures. I bet Jill wasn’t seeing red anymore—she was probably seeing orange. Insert fluttering hearts. Ha ha!
You grow, girl
Between you and me, once Jill got over seeing red about having to go to field day, her attitude must’ve changed. By accepting the situation—even if she had low expectations—Jill opened herself up to the possibility of something good happening. In this case, my guess is that Jill had fun spending time with her friends and maybe even made some new friends. Like that cute boy in the picture.
My takeaway from Jill’s field day experience is this: You get to choose how to think and feel in any situation. If you want to be miserable, you probably will be. But you’re also likely to miss out on something good. Instead, if you look for the bright spots in a situation, chances are, you’ll probably find them.
And while I could never imagine not wanting to go to field day, I’m sure there will be some activity in my teenage future that will make me annoyed. I’d like to think I’ll find a way to turn a positive into a negative like Jill secretly did.
But, unlike Jill, hopefully I won’t be too embarrassed to admit it afterward.
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share them with me in the comments section!
