Five Words You Don't Hear Enough

"It's only a 4 page paper, I just don't understand how to do the calculations is all. Can you help me out?"

"Email me what you have," I texted back. "I'll run through and make sure you're using the right formulas."

Fact of life: I have a hard time saying "No." It's just a few formulas, I'll look it over. This was after I had already gone to the gym, done the dishes and prepped some food for dinner later tonight. I finished my own 8 page paper on cognitive dissonance/situated cognition and turned it in before 10:00, took a shower and gathered my things for a day running the ice-cream truck.

11:20 - My first customers. Three teenage girls driving a 2008 Ford Focus. "Do you have anything that's strawberry?" asked Girl #1 without even looking up from her phone. "Sorry," I said. "I have huckleberry? Would that be okay?"

Girl #2 rolled her eyes. "Eww," she said. "That sounds disgusting." Girl #3 clearly agreed. "Let's just go to Dairy Queen," she whined. "This sucks."

Great start.

1:26 - It hits 100 degrees.

3:30 - I ran by my friend's house to check on her cat (being she was out of town for a few days). After seeing she was out of food, I went home, put some of my cat's food in a little baggie and brought it back. That should last her through the next few days.

4:30 - Made a routine stop at a house with 5 kids with Cruella DeVille for a mom. She only lets them have anything if I give it to them for free (yet she clearly has enough money for her cigarettes), so I usually give them a few popsicles and tell them not to tell their mom, hoping one day she might cough up some change to cover the weekly dent she makes in my donation jar. Wishful thinking, I know.

4:42 - It hits 102 degrees.

5:35 - a man stops me in traffic to say his dog is missing, and if I see it on my route to give him a call. He gives me a phone number, address, and description of his dog. I tell him I'll keep a lookout.

6:45 - I head home to grab a bite to eat. Checked my grades. 87% for my paper? I'll take it. Also the air conditioner has leaked all over the carpet, so I put a bowl underneath is and clean up what I could. I'll get the rest later.

7:30 - I find the missing dog. I call the number but no answer, so I take it to the address. She's a hyper Border Collie named Bella, and secretly I want to keep her. He's not home, but his neighbor, an elderly woman, screams at me and accuses me of trying to steal this man's dog. I explain I'm actually bringing the dog back, but she just shakes her fist at me and walks into her house. I wait another 10 minutes when he pulls up. Crisis averted.

8:20 - I realize I forgot to refill my water bottle when I stopped by my house. I'm out of water and I've got an hour left. Oh well.

9:30 - I make my last round through a familiar neighborhood and am waved over by a little boy and his dad. After pondering the choices he chooses a chocolate ice cream sandwich. Good choice. He gives me the money and takes his frozen treat.

"What do we say?" asked his father.
"Thank you," replied the little boy.
"Aww, you're welcome bud!" I said back.
"And what else do we say?" asked the father once more.

The little boy looked up at me with big, brown eyes bordered by long lashes and said with compete sincerity five words I haven't heard in years:

"You're doing a good job."

Thank god I was wearing sunglasses. "Oh, wow." I stuttered, trying not to cry, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

They smiled, his dad dropped $0.50 in the donation jar, and they went back into the house. There I sat, completely dumbfounded and on the verge of tears.

You're doing a good job.

Honestly, when's the last time someone has told you you're doing a good job? Not insinuated it, or hinted at it, but actually told you you're doing a good job? Personally I can't remember the last time, but I know for a fact there are people out there who don't hear it enough, and I'm sure you're one of them.

So for today, Monday, the start of the week, I'm asking you to take a second in the mirror and tell yourself you're doing a good job. It's true, and you don't hear it enough. Hell maybe even let that waitress working the 4 a.m. shift know too, I'm sure she hasn't heard it in years either.