A Bottle of Milk

By Amy Owens, The Singles Coach

I was seven years old.  It was a very hot summer day. My father asked me to walk to the store to buy some milk for our family. The store was about six blocks away.  

Although I had never done bought milk by myself before, I was excited.  I knew the way to the store. I knew I could do it!
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My father gave me two quarters to buy two bottles of milk.  In those days, milk came in heavy glass bottles. Each bottle cost one quarter.

I walked to the store.  I bought two bottles of milk. The store owner put the bottles in a paper bag, so I could carry them home. In those days, all grocery bags were made of paper.

I started to walk home.  The bottles were very heavy, but I used my strong 7-year old muscles to carry them home to my father.  As I walked, the bottles started to sweat.  The paper bag became wet and began to tear.  But I held on tightly to it.

When I finally got to the front door of our house, I rang the bell.  My dad came to open the door for me.  As I started to step up into the house, the bottom ripped completely out of the paper bag!

Milk and broken glass splashed all over the brick front porch.  It was a big mess.

My father said, “Oh!  That’s OK.  I’ll clean it up.  Go buy two more bottles.”  He gave me two more quarters.

I walked back to the store.  I bought two more bottles of milk.  I carried them to the front door.  I rang the bell.  My father came and opened the door for me.  I stepped up.  The bag ripped.  Once again, the bottles crashed onto the porch.

My father said, “Oh!  That’s OK.  I’ll clean it up.  Go buy more milk.”  This time, he gave me just one quarter.

I walked back to the store again.  This time, I bought just one bottle of milk.  I carried it to the front door.  I rang the bell.  My father came and opened the door for me.  I stepped up into the house and safely handed my father the bottle of milk.

My father was so happy, and I was happy, too!

​I learned some important lessons that day: 

• Sometimes, we think we can do something that we have never done before but find out that we cannot do it.
• Sometimes, we must try something over and over before we can do it right.
• Sometimes, we cannot do a great big new task.  But, we can do a smaller part of it instead.

It’s always good to have a patient and kind parent or friend when you are learning to do new things.

Author’s Note: These lessons probably also apply to dating or rebuilding our lives after a divorce or the ending of a significant relationship.