It Doesn't Take Much

 


   Last week the pharmacy accounts receivable person brought a small plastic bag into the pharmacy. She found it and showed it to the tech that was working with me. Inside the bag was a small crocheted green and brown turtle with plastic eyes. There was also a note in the bag. It read "I am not lost. I am just alone. If I made you smile, please take me home. The race does not always go to the swiftest, but to the one who persists. Keep going" When I read the note it made me tear up a little. The A.R. person left it on the counter and the tech went back to her work. 

   Once I saw that no one would claim it, I went to the counter and picked it up. I put it under my terminal. When I moved to another terminal I took the turtle with me. In fact I felt somewhat possessive of it. I finally put the turtle in my bag so that it wouldn't get lost. I was happy to take it home.

   A few days later I took it out and felt the soft yarn. I rubbed it and squeezed it. The yarn was soft and it felt good in my hands. I put it in the plastic bag and tucked it back into my work bag.

   This morning I got to work early. I got something to drink from the Caribou inside the store and sat down to drink it. I took out the turtle and looked at it. I noticed that it came from a Facebook group that makes small crocheted items and leaves them for other people to find. There was a QR code where I could leave a picture of my new friend. I took a picture of the turtle by my drink. I posted it to the Facebook group. I hoped that the person who made it would see that it had a good home. Then I put it back into the bag and went to punch in.

   I was optimistic about the day. The things I planned to get done I finished before lunch. There was another problem that had cropped up. I needed to get access to a certain website so I could do what needs to be done. That took most of an hour. Then I tried to log into the website to do what needed to be done. The website was not well organized, it was hard to find the place for me to complete my task.  After several phone calls and countless times of have to log in after getting kicked out, I gave up. I told the pharmacy manager that I would take care of it on my next shift and left. I felt bad about leaving, but I just wasn't getting anything done. I didn't want to spend another hour spinning my wheels like that.

   I sat down to wait for C to pick me up. Then I took out the turtle. The little bead eyes looked up at me. The note was behind it. Keep going. Persist. The frustration eased a little and I was grateful to the person who made the turtle and left it.

   It doesn't take much. A smile, a kind word or a little crochet turtle can do a lot. Sometimes it can turn a bad day around.


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