Skating in Milk

My lovely sister-in-law, Allison, told me a story once of a former acquaintance of hers. Her friend was having a day, probably not unlike many other days when you are juggling work, your kids and everything else in between. Upon coming home from this long day which ended with a trip to the grocery store, her very small son thought he would "help" put the two very heavy gallon jugs of milk on the counter. I'll give you one guess to what happened next.

Splash.

"So we skated in it." She told Allison. Her children and her skated in the spilled milk. Because you know why? Sometimes that is all you can do.

I try to remind myself of this story often, especially on days when it feels like I am waste deep in milk. But I was reminded of it the other day but this time in a more literal sense when I got a phone call from my sister.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Question. Do you know the best way to clean up olive oil from the floor?"

"Oh boy, did you spill?"

"Um, yes. I dropped and broke the brand new bottle I just bought from Trader Joe's."

After a quick Google search, I found her an answer. "Online it says, oatmeal. Pour oatmeal on the spill. Leave for 20 minutes, then sweep it up."

"Ok, great. Also, glad I bought oatmeal as well."

I have to say, I was proud of my little sister for remaining so calm. With everything she has going on in her life, including but not limited to bills, rent, school and a demanding little dog named Joey who is just a monocle and a smoking jacket away from being a grouchy old man, an oil spill was the last thing she needed. And even though now, what she did need was a new bottle of olive oil and tub of oatmeal, the bottom line was there are important things in life than crying over spilled, err, oil. Although, I don't recommend actually skating in it; that is a head injury and a trip to the ER waiting to happen.