Mom Gets Smooth Smoothie, and the World Keeps Spinning

For some reason, I operate under the assumption that either no one cares about my needs and desires, or that my needs and desires are unimportant, or too inconvenient for everyone else to deal with. In my old age, I am trying to teach myself that I have a family and friends who do care very much what I think and need, and that it's really not a big deal to ask for small corrections when my needs are not met. There are times when I have no problem with this, but I am almost always surprised when I get what I want AND no one is deciding to cut off all contact with me because I'm such a pain.

When I am in the midst of a funk, though, it's hard to believe that anyone will listen to me, and even harder to believe that I won't get yelled at or at least an eye roll if I insist on getting what I want. 

Such a day was yesterday, when I took my ailing son (who had had a skin infection on his face that by now was totally out of hand--mom fail, hence the funk) for a smoothie. He and I both ordered green smoothies with kale, and his sisters had strawberry ones. The woman making the smoothies called my name and I came over to receive them, and I could see little flecks of green in both cups. Now, when you're having a strawberry or peach smoothie and you can see little chunks, it's not a big deal, but I have had a kale smoothie that wasn't blended quite enough, and it was not a pleasurable experience. 

"I can see the kale in this," I boldly pronounced.

"Oh, don't worry, I blended it twice."

"I can see the kale in this," I repeated, pointing to a larger green chunk in the cup. I then proceeded to take a drink of it to prove that I could taste chunks of kale (because, clearly, she would be able to taste it too?).

"I'll just remake that for you."

"Thank you."

And she did. No one had to wait longer, except me and my party of small children, I got no mean looks from anyone, and no one yelled at me for being picky. The result was perfectly smooth, green smoothies that tasted nothing like kale, which, to me, is the whole point of having kale in a smoothie. On our way out, my son said, "I like getting a green one because then nobody wants a taste, and I don't have to share." So we got kale for completely different reasons, I guess, but at least he got some vitamins. And I triumphed over my erroneous assumptions about how the world at large will respond to my getting what I asked for in the first place.