The Patient Princess {SOL 11.22.16}

Once upon a time, there lived a princess who was blessed with incredible patience and a sparky sense of humor. She lived in a castle in the country with her handsome prince, young daughter, and two naughty (yet adorable) dogs.

The princess prided herself on her ability to remain calm in the face of chaos, for she knew that in order to keep peace throughout the land (and her castle), someone had to take some deep breaths and remember the wise words once shared by the princess's mother, "This too shall pass."

One Sunday morning, the princess was cleaning up the breakfast dishes and decided to make soup for the castle lunch. She reached into the cabinet drawer where she kept the canned vegetables, broth, and other necessities for making soup, discovering that all of the cans were stuck to the cabinet bottom. Apparently, one of the castle inhabitants put away the new bottle of corn syrup without tightening the cap, allowing it to spill out all over the drawer, hardening, and attaching everything rather securely to the drawer bottom.

No bother, the patient princess thought. This too shall pass. She set about to removing the cans from their sticky trap with the aid of the royal hairdryer and a metal spatula.

When that job was finished, the princess walked into her bedroom and was frightened by the ghastly sight before her, for the royal mutts had made quite a mess on the carpet after frolicking in the castle yard. No bother, the patient princess moaned, glaring at the two naughty (yet adorable) dogs.  She took a few deep breaths.  This too shall pass.

The patient princess got out the castle carpet cleaner and began to soak the carpet with cleaning solution. After spraying down a rather large container of cleaning solution, the princess began the task of going over the carpet again to remove it.  It didn't take long for the princess to realize that something was wrong, for the cleaner would not suck.

The princess tried and tried to make the cleaner work, taking it apart and putting it back together several times. The princess, who was beginning to lose her patience with the carpet cleaner, got a little huffy when reassembling the cleaner for the final time and struggled a bit with reattaching the hose, finally snapping it back into the holder rather abruptly (and not at all patiently). The hose responded by squirting the princess in the eye with some remaining solution. The princess wiped her eye, glared again at the dogs, then went in search of some box fans to dry the carpet.

Later that evening, the princess's daughter suggested that since the patient princess had such a rough day, perhaps a bubble bath was in order. The princess agreed.

She walked into the castle bathroom, carefully passing by the box fans still trying to dry the carpet, and began running her bath. As the water filled the tub, the patient princess put away a few items of laundry. When the bath was ready, she stepped into the tub, and squealed. EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!

The princess, who did not take baths very often, had filled the tub with cold water, not hot. She should have been more patient before leaving the castle bathroom after turning on the water apparently. This is a bother, the princess thought, reaching for a towel and then her pajamas.

"I'm going to bed," the princess announced to her handsome prince and darling daughter, who were sitting in the living room enjoying the Green Bay Packer football game. "I've had enough of today."

"Don't worry, mama, this too shall pass," the darling daughter said to the princess as she bent to kiss her good night. "Tomorrow will be a better day."

The princess went off to bed, avoiding any more catastrophes that might have been lurking around the castle corners.

When the princess awoke the next day, her patience and sense of humor had returned. She laughed to herself about the adversities of the previous day -- right as she walked into the box fan that was still drying the carpet.

Oh, bother, the princess thought.