We were making the long trek home from our Thanksgiving travels. It was just me and my girls. I was tired. I had a headache. I am night blind and nightfall was quickly approaching. The rain was starting to freeze on the roads and brookie was snarting in the backseat (for those of you who do not know, a snart is a sneaky fart-you can't hear 'em, but holy cow with a bell on you can sure smell 'em-and yes, we made that word up). We stopped for a burger on the go and that's when the something amazing happened.
I asserted myself.
If you know me personally you may not believe that, but that's what makes it amazing, it really happened. Lauren's cheeseburger had no burger. It had the bread. It had the cheese. It even had the mayo, but it did not have the meat. My first instinct was to just give her my dinner and throw hers out. Normally I won't complain, no matter what the problem...
They gave you the wrong drink? Well this a wonderful opportunity to try something new.
What? They left out your fries? That's okay. I'm sure they are just busy. Take mine, I'm not hungry anyway.
What's this? Hair in my burger? How thoughtful, i'll braid it and save it. Who knows when rat tails will make a come back.
I do not like confrontation of any kind. Add to that the fact that I truly don't want to inconvenience anyone and you can see how this can be a big problem. So I was quite proud of myself when I actually took a deep breath and called the waitress/car hop and told her what had happened.
Of course she was very apologetic and replaced the burger right away. It was all very simple and I was immediately struck with how silly it is that I don't stand up for myself more often. I realize a burger is not a big deal, but it was something I normally would have let slide. I know that we are encouraged to be meek (the meek shall inherit the earth and all that good stuff), but I honestly do not think the Lord wants us to be doormats either.
So from now on I am making an effort to be more assertive. I am going to try saying no to others when I need to and yes to myself a little more too. So don't be alarmed if you hear someone asking, "where's the beef?" It's not an eighties rerun (whatchoo talkin' bout Willis?), it's just me learning to grab hold of life with both hands instead of being the wimp in the background without any meat.
(Someone might want to warn Dave.)
