The Blob

About a week ago I discovered a large dark blob of something on my shower floor.  This black gooey blob was resting quietly to the side, tucked out of the way but certainly not unnoticed by myself.  Seeing that it was not in my direct path I proceeded with my shower, eye balling the blob from time to time to ensure it was not creeping into my territory.  At the end of my shower?  I dried off, stepped out of the shower stall and...left the mysterious blob behind in hopes that somehow it would disappear just as miraculously as it had appeared.

Well wouldn't you know it, the very next day as I climbed groggily into the shower, there it was again.  I'm quite certain it had grown blacker and gooier and perhaps even bigger - and is it my imagination or did it move its spot from the previous day?  Now my mind began to wonder as I shampooed and conditioned - what on earth is this thing on the shower floor and where did it come from?  Was it some sort of pond scum that crept its way through the pipes and up through the shower drain?  Was it some kind of disgusting fungus that had fallen off my husband, or perhaps my brother who had been visiting, because one things for sure, it didn't come from me!

These questions lingered throughout the week as day after day I climbed into my shower, finding the black icky blob still remaining...why hadn't I removed it you may ponder?  BECAUSE IT LOOKED GROSS!!!!  I didn't want to get any closer or have to touch it, it might have contaminated me...it was slimy!  Well, finally I couldn't take it anymore.  It was clear after a week of waiting and wondering, this mysterious blob was not going to remove itself.  And though I was scared and repulsed I sucked up my courage, took a deep breath, grabbed the biggest wad of toilet paper I could, and plunged in...as I pinched the toilet paper around the blob it mushed in my fingertips (ewe...)  I scooped it up and, curiosity getting the better of me peeked inside...it was a sticker.

Yes, the big black scary gooey icky mysterious blob I had been too afraid to approach was nothing more than a shampoo sticker that had fallen off the bottle. (Did I mention I normally wear glasses?)

Lesson learned - change doesn't always just happen.  I guess sometimes if you want something to change you have to take action.  And that can be scary because you never can be exactly sure what you're going to find on the other side of that action (or inside the toilet paper!)  There have been countless times in my life I have complained about they way things were going.  I've whined about a class, or a person, or my job...I've wanted to change things, but didn't want to take the action necessary to make it happen.  I was afraid.  Afraid things wouldn't work out, afraid I'd make things worse, afraid I would fail.  And so nothing changed.

I guess the choice is ours, we can continue to live with the blobs in our lives, wanting, wishing, hoping it will change on its own, or we can grab a wad of toilet paper and go for it!  Perhaps we will find it is just as icky and gooey as we feared, but then again maybe we'll discover it's just a harmless sticker...