Comparison is the Thief of Joy

 

                                                          Joyce and Michele on vacation

You're lucky if you have three close friends in your lifetime. I've been blessed to have double that. Meet my oldest bestie Michele. We've been friends since 2nd grade. We have so many memories, both good and some not so good. We've talked our way into clubs when we were underage, we've gotten in trouble for being in the clubs when our parents found out. We've even caught a boyfriend or two cheating and confronted him with hidden weapons. (Don't tell the cops...LOL) 

One memory I have is when we were both in a Brownie troop (troops like Girl Scouts but younger). Not sure if she remembers this but we had a project to make biscuits and I was so excited. My mom was a culinary teacher. Well back then it was called Home Economics and not Culinary Arts. However, she guided me through what I called my masterpiece. Now this was back in the 70's so hold on that that tiny fact for a moment. I promise you'll see why it's important.

When you're eight or nine-years-old you have a certain picture in your mind of what you think your outcome should be and I was certain that I was going to get the nice fluffy biscuits that you see on the television commercials.

We spent time in the kitchen dumping, measuring and stirring. When we finally opened the oven and took out the biscuits. They looked a little like this. It didn't look like what I was used to seeing but I was still excited.

When it was time to showcase our projects, I couldn't wait to see what my friend came up with in the kitchen. My smile was a mile wide and then I saw this...

My smile disappeared when I looked at hers and then looked at mine. I was convinced that she DID NOT make those biscuits...LOL.

When I got home I addressed my disappointment to my mother and she explained the difference. She said we made homemade "drop biscuits". What the heck was a drop biscuit. It DID NOT look like a biscuit to me. I was upset and mildly embarassed with my "masterpiece".

Years later while sitting in one of my favorite restraunts, a basket of decadent goodness was put in front of me and I was immediately taken back to my childhood. It was a basket of RED LOBSTER CHEDDER BISCUITS. They just happen to be my mom's famous "drop biscuits" that I had been introduced to many years prior. She was well before her time in the kitchen. 

There it was, something that I had created with my mother years earlier sitting before me in a popular restraunt. It really made me think about our perspective of things and comparison. In my mind her biscuits were better because I had never seen biscuits like what I had. 

Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Comparison is the thief of joy". Instead of being focused on the great time I had doing something with my mom I was upset and sad because mine didn't look as pretty as hers.