Balls in the Air

A fable for today:

Once upon a time, there was a woman. This woman was terrible at some things, so-so at other things and very good at a few things. These things became balls in her life and she found she could juggle the few things she was very good at quite easily.

She held the large ball of her job lightly on her fingertips, tossed it high in the air while she cradled the soft ball of her marriage and occasionally held the squishy ball of friendship. She was happy with each of these balls and even had time to read books when the balls were all in the air.

The woman decided she could add some balls to her life, since she was so good at juggling the ones she had.

In quick succession, she threw in three balls and named them A, B and K. Before she knew it, the three balls had become six, then nine, then twelve. How did these balls multiply unlike any others before?

The woman didn't realize it, but the three new balls each came with their own balls to juggle and until they were old enough, she had to juggle her own balls and theirs. To her astonishment and dismay, the woman was overwhelmed. She was astonished at her own incompetence, dismayed because she loved those three balls dearly and did not want to disappoint and overwhelmed because... well, you would be overwhelmed too if you were trying to juggle 15 balls when you once juggled only three.

She had gone from being very good at a few things to being very bad at many things, but the balls just would not go away and they kept coming at her faster and faster.

The woman tried to get rid of some balls. This worked for a time, but the balls would just come bouncing back, waiting for her to take them up again. And really, she wanted some of those balls. She had once found her job a light burden, but now it felt like lead in her hands. How could she lighten it enough to still hold it?

Some days, the woman wanted to just throw her hands over her head and hide from the bouncing balls. But that didn't really work and she felt worse than ever when she tried that.

The woman finally decided that balls were meant to bounce and stopped trying to juggle every ball every day. Some days she still felt bombarded by the balls and had bruises from dropping them on herself. But she reminded herself that the balls were not made of glass and would not break if she sometimes let them bounce for a while unattended.

If you see this woman walking around with her hands, arms and the air around her full of balls, please stop to offer her a kind word of encouragement.