Heartburn, resentment, and milk.

Today my sister woke me up from my nap (yelling my name throughout the house as sisters often do,) to ask if I could go buy some milk from the store-which she'd just come from-because it was a necessary part of dinner and she'd forgotten it. Resentment bubbled up inside of me like heartburn. I thought about going off on her (everyone knows not to disturb my naps,) I thought about how she could've asked mom or dad who were both outside, I didn't say a word...I felt sure that in a few minutes I could still say many words if I still wanted to, and I was sure I would want to. I put on my shoes, grabbed my purse, her keys, the debit card, and I said nothing. I swallowed my words just like I would tums...and just like they work on heartburn, my resentment slowly disappeared. I thought about how small of a deal it was for me to drive a mile down the road to Kroger. Admittedly I thought about how dumb it was for her to leave the milk and how much more intelligent it made me since I was going back to get it--shhh don't tell anyone that one. I thought about how dinner would be almost ready when I got back.

When I arrived home with the milk my sister expected me to be upset. It felt good to walk in quite the opposite. She smiled her "I-owe-you" smile, y'know the one we all have to smile once in awhile? Well, I smiled right back, a genuine, no-longer-sleepy smile. 

I will try this more often, it felt better than looking back on what happened and getting angry all over again, and it felt better than looking back and realizing how petty I was. Dinner was great, and I had not a HINT of heartburn.