By Averi and Marina Halbert
Picture this- you’ve had a long, strenuous, treacherous day, filled with hours upon hours of sheer berating from teachers, teammates, and parents. All you want to do is take a nice steaming hot shower, get into bed with your big cuddly dog, and go to godforsaken sleep. However, unlike the perfection of everything in your imagination, issues arise in your perfectly laid out plan—the one that ends with your sound asleep. Issues that, while preventable, require to be known before you proceed, such as having body wash before getting into the shower. While the first few seconds (or minutes depending on just how miserable your day has been thus far (which will get worse momentarily)) of your shower will be pleasurable and relaxing, once you reach for the body wash just to find it missing? The body wash that you genuinely love the smell of after going through hundreds of different brands before falling in love with this particular brand and scent… Well, that might just be your breaking point. Attempting (and failing) to hold back tears, this minor inconvenience is now the worst thing that has ever happened to you in your entire life. Forced to finish your shower lacking a crucial step which leaves you feeling incomplete, and leads to a horrible and completely justified state of anger. The only possible thing that could make this worse, would be if your beloved sister took it rather than you simply using it all. But she would never do that to you. Right? No, no-she most definitely would. A quick trip to her shower and an even quicker glance is all that is required for you to officially lose your straining sanity. The Holy Grail of all body washes, sitting on the shelf, oh so obviously misplaced among the rest of her products. How could she do this to me? As you storm down the hall and barge into her room, you realize that the dog—that you had planned to cuddle with—lays next to her. The constant betrayals lead to a ridiculous fight over the stupidest topic ever (admittedly only one side hears and the other takes wild guesses about what’s being said). You just want the day to be over. Now picture this: You’ve had a fantastic day! You got 100 on a test you have been stressing over for the last few weeks, got first on a Kahoot, you have plans with friends after school, and best of all, your classes were actually fun. After getting home from your friend’s house and taking the dogs on a walk, you decide to take a shower, the perfect way to end the day. Your sister has been sulking and high-strung all day, but not you! You are stress-free for the first time in forever, and she is simply getting a taste of your life. How the turns tables. As you walk into the bathroom to take your pleasant shower, right before you step under the perfectly tempered water, you realize you just finished off your body wash! It’s so insanely perfect that you remembered before you were past a point of no return! Running to your sister’s shower, you snatch her body wash (the exact same one as yours) and hurry back to properly shower, not missing a single step of your shower routine. Could things be any better? Yes, yes they could. After stepping out of the bathroom, freshly washed and clean–thanks to the body wash– and into your room you find the cuddly dog lying on your bed, half asleep and as cute as always. Laying down next to him with the lights off, you sink into your heated blanket along with your weighted blanket and comfortable mattress. Suddenly, you find yourself drifting into a longly sought-after sleep. Out of the blue, she slams your door open, waking the dog, and ruining your peace. Your dear sister, now turning her day-long anger (completely unfairly) onto you, starts yelling about the most minor inconvenience that has ever existed in the world: missing body wash. Please. While you are truthfully guilty, you simply cannot admit your wrongdoing, and work to defend yourself leading to quite possibly one of the dumbest arguments that has ever occurred in the Halbert household. It was almost a perfect day.