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365 Reasons to Smile – Day 36

When I was in second grade, my teacher told our class that everyone needed to bring in two pieces of bread for an art project.

The night before the project, my mother wrapped two slices of bread in wax paper, and I carried the slices to school in anticipation of the project.

When art time arrived, my classmates and I carefully followed Mrs. Roth’s instructions. But when everyone else miraculously made bread play dough, I simply made a mess.

The teacher hadn’t told us to bring store-bought bread, something my family never had. My mom took pride in baking all of our bread from scratch.

And rightly so. Her bread was wonderful. It just wasn’t soft and sticky. Instead it crumbled.

Apparently you need sticky bread to make bread play dough. I think Mrs. Roth felt sorry for me, and initially I felt sorry for myself as well as embarrassed that once again my family had to be different from everyone else’s.

But after a few days, I discovered my debacle during art class made a really good story.

And over the years, I’ve found that being different is much more interesting than being like everyone else and that my greatest failures often become my greatest stories.

And that always wakes me smile.

Day 36: Challenging Experiences that Make Great Stories

Day 35: You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Day 34: Accepting the Fog Day 33: I See the Moon

Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap

Day 31: Perspective

Day 30: Unlikely Friendships Day 29: Good Samaritans

Day 28: Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet? Day 27: Shadows

Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads

Day 25: When Harry Met Sally

Day 24: Hibiscus Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck

Day 22: The Wonderful World of Disney Day 21: Puppy love