The Little Girl and the Gumball

On Sunday, after our family adventure to Costco, I got home and realized that I had no food in the fridge.  The following day, (yesterday) we were expecting snow. I didn't want to go out shopping in a snow storm so I mustered up some strength and went to the local market for the bare essentials that I needed to get through to today.

Walking across the parking lot I thought about the gumball machine inside the doors.  I decided to get myself one of these gumballs, it was going to be my special poison for the hellish day that I had with my mom.  It wasn't my mom's fault, she got sick, it can happen to even sane people.  My mind was able to spin logic out of why I should buy myself a gumball.  I wanted it and I was going to have it.
With my 25 cents in hand, I notice a little girl sitting on the floor in front of the row of machines.  She was studying each big glass filled dispenser, pondering which to buy.  Finally, she made a selection.  Good taste I thought to myself, she's picking the same thing that I am choosing. 

Bloink! Bloink! Bloink!...

Her little fingers were too slow for the fast moving gumball.  It shot out of the machine like a bullet and onto the floor.  She was bummed but picked it up and began rubbing it on her cloths as she looked at the gumball and over toward her mom.  I could sense that she was reasoning in her mind the five second rule, if it wasn't on the ground more than 5 seconds the devil didn't get his nasty germs on it.

I was behind her and had 2 quarters in my pocket.  I told her to throw that dirty one away, she could get sick and buy a new one.  She quickly took my quarter and spun a new gumball out of the machine... a green one.  She ran away fast, putting both gumballs in her pocket. 

I laughed as I put my quarter in the same machine, ready with a trained hand to catch the tiny ball of sugar, an old standby treat for me. 

Only this time, the gumball lost it's charm.  It wasn't a treat.  It tasted the same as always but I didn't enjoy it as in the past, when my thoughts about health and food were different. 

Watching the little girls purple gumball roll away was symbolic of change.  There are things in life that we just love and work our entire lives to achieve or acquire.  Often when we get what we think we wanted, it's not as great as the chase to attain the desired object.  The other day I was reminded of this valuable life lesson because of the little girl and the gumball.