Stories

A Few Good Words

By Sandra Humphrey

Have you ever had a really, really rotten day? Well, I just had one, and for a while I was feeling like a real loser. A big fat zero!

I was thinking I should never have gotten out of bed this morning because my day started out really bad and then just went downhill from there.

At breakfast I was busy chugalugging down my o.j. and eggs when my older brother Nick breezed by on his way out the door. He gave me a whack on the back and said, “Have a good day, kiddo!”

“Kiddo!” That’s what he calls me. What’s wrong with my name, Alyssa? When I was little, it wasn’t so bad, but now that I’m in the fourth grade, I no longer want to be called “kiddo!”

Then in our computer class at school Jason called me a “computer geek” for about the zillionth time. It’s not like I spend my entire life chained to my computer, but I do love everything about them. I love trying to figure out just how they work from the inside out, and somehow when he calls me a “computer geek,” it makes it sound like I’m weird or something just because I’m interested in them.

This was most definitely not one of my better days, but I was hanging in there. Just barely.

Then after school I had my usual gymnastics practice. Now that I’m a Level 8, we practice four hours a day, six days a week, which means a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Mostly sweat, actually, and not much blood, but sometimes a few tears. Especially when I fall.

Well, anyway, I was busy practicing my floor routine when I heard a girl from one of the other gymnastic clubs say, “How can she be a level 8 when she’s about as graceful as an elephant?”

I knew she was talking about me because my floor routine has always been really hard for me. I have plenty of muscle and I do great on the uneven bars and the vault, but I just don’t seem to bend the way most gymnasts bend. My coach says that some people are just naturally more flexible, and I guess it’s true, because no matter how hard I try, I just never feel very graceful.

I don’t even know the girl who called me an elephant, but her words still hurt. They hurt a lot because I try really hard and it’s like no matter how hard I try, my floor routine is always my weakest event of the four gymnastic events.

By the time I got home I’d decided that I wasn’t going to go to my youth group meeting at church. In fact, I was thinking I may just never venture out of this house ever again!

But then Mom came whizzing down the stairs with her gym bag on her shoulder and told me to be ready to go in five minutes. That’s our Wednesday night routine. Mom works out at the club while I’m at my youth group at church.

Now there’s no way I was going to be able to come up with a decent excuse in five minutes. I can’t even come down with a good case of the flu in five minutes.

So I grabbed my backpack and headed out to the car where she was waiting for me, all jazzed and ready to go. My mom is one of those people who’s always revved up and brimming over with enthusiasm about everything. She even sings while she’s doing the laundry.

Actually, I usually like our youth group a lot. Our youth leader Erica plays the guitar while we sing a few songs and talk about how our week is going. Then we have some kind of activity that’s always fun.

So by the time Mom dropped me off at church, my mood was just maybe a few degrees brighter because I was thinking about our weekend youth retreat, which is coming up in two weeks.

After we sang a few songs, Erica began taping blank sheets of paper on our backs. Then she handed out markers and told us to just wander around the room writing something about each person on the taped-on paper.

Right about then I was wishing I had stayed home after all, because I could just imagine what people were going to write on my paper. “Computer geek,” “graceful as an elephant,” and who knows what else?

I wrote “good sense of humor” on Jeremy’s paper. He’s one of those kids who can make you laugh even when you’re feeling totally in the pits. Like I was at that point.

I loved Melissa’s French braid, so I wrote “beautiful hair” on her paper.

On Karina’s paper I wrote, “A good sport.” I always like to be on her team because she never gets on your case if you mess up.

Kids kept writing stuff on my paper. It felt really funny to just stand there while people wrote things on my back. I felt kind of helpless, actually.

After about twenty minutes Erica rang her little bell and told us to sit down at the table. While she took the papers off our backs, I was having a real meltdown, wondering what was on my paper.

Erica handed me my paper and I squinted my eyes almost totally shut, not really wanting to read the bad news. But someone had written “really smart” and I opened my eyes a little bit more.

I read that one again. “Really smart?!” Wow! No one has ever called me that before. Except maybe my mom.

And someone else wrote, “has a great smile.” I can’t believe they mean me! By then my eyes were totally open, and I was thinking that maybe I should smile more.

When I got to “a lot of fun,” I’ve got to tell you, I was really beginning to feel pretty good.

By the time I finished reading everything on my paper, I was no longer seeing all my faults. I was actually beginning to see a lot of the good stuff.

It’s funny how words can make you feel really bad or really good. Erica’s always telling us that words can hurt or words can heal, and I’m thinking that in the future I’m going to be more careful about choosing what I say to people.

I think maybe from now on I’ll try to choose a few good words!

My Friend Home
Movie Reviews | Music Reviews | Stories | Are You Bugged?
Between Friends | Saints in the Spotlight