The things weighing you down may not be yours to begin with

The last days of December are a good time to reflect on life lessons.

Here’s one of mine from a while back.

A friend had been to our house for some event — probably a branding — and the interaction led to a need for me to swing by her house a few days later to pick up some papers.

What exactly the papers were isn’t important to the story (plus, I can’t remember).

What is germane to this anecdote is that my friend told me she wouldn’t be home when I came by, but that her back door would be unlocked, and the papers would be on a filing cabinet just inside.

When I arrived, I found the papers exactly where she had said, on top of a three-drawer filing cabinet. Curiously there was also a bottle with a faded label identifying the contents as dog worming pills.

I was stumped.

We had an older dog at the time, and my friend had seen our dog when she visited our house.

While the topic of whether or not the dog might have some sort of parasitic infestation had not come up over lunch (thank goodness), I could only assume that my friend — who was quite knowledgeable about canines — had seen something that led her to believe that medicinal intervention was necessary.

The printed directions on how to administer the pills were faded enough so as to be unclear. After puzzling over it for a few days, I finally called her.

I found the pills, I told her, but I wasn’t certain about dosage for a dog like ours or how long they needed to be given.

She burst out laughing.

Turns out she’d been hunting in vain for that bottle of pills that she knew she’d left near the back door — the same bottle of pills she used as a PAPERWEIGHT so my documents wouldn’t blow away when the door was opened.

What was the lesson here?

The obvious one is, of course, never assume.

But the real lesson is this: That thing that is weighing you down?

Take another look.

It might never have been yours to begin with.

Betty Williamson wishes you a paperweight-free 2023. Reach her at:

[email protected]