Little Encouragements

*Sigh*.  Graduation.  All my highschool life, I've waited and worked for this- to be able to breathe, relax, call it over.  I'm sitting here on the bed watching raindrops bounce off of the flowers in the garden below my open window.  I can finally afford to chill out a bit and just take it all in.  I love the rain, I love the breeze through open windows, and I love hot vanilla tea.  I also love to be able to enjoy those things without the constant feeling of stress weighing me down.  I feel the need to share the phrase that has been repeating itself in my head like a mantra since I heard it.  But first, I need to tell the story.
It was December 18th.  I was working an annual Christmas Tea catering job, and everything was going wrong.  We ran out of dishes, the tea from the boiler was cold and we couldn't figure out why, things were misplaced, and a few carefully counted finger sandwiches had been dropped on the floor, rendering them useless and us sandwich-less.  The hundred-and-some tea-goers were getting antsy, and therefore somewhat rude to us.  Fast-forward two hours.  The guests had left, the dishes were being collected from the tables, and we had somehow managed to keep everyone satisfied and a teacup never ran empty.  How the three of us had managed it, I will never know.  But as we were exhaustedly (and somewhat deliriously) washing lipstick-stained teacups, the manager of the venue paid us a visit in the kitchen.  She had been in a few other times to check on us and offer help, but staying professional, we had politely declined and said that we were just fine.  During this particular visit, however, she asked us how we had managed with so many mishaps.  After relating the whole story and the things we had used to make-do, she smiled a small smile and said just a few simple words to us that I will never forget.  "See," she said, pouring herself a cup of leftover tea, "it's never as bad as you think."
Those words have rung in my ears since December 18th and have become a motto for me.  During this schoolyear I have been so stressed, and it seems that a majority of the days have been days just like December 18th- when everything seems to be going wrong, and nobody can understand why I'm so frantic.  However, the profound little phrase that Mary said to us in the kitchen that night has struck a chord with me and comforted me whenever I feel like it can't possibly be any worse.  I just convince myself that its not as bad as I think, and someday, in retrospect, I will realize that that phrase couldn't be more true.
That day has finally come.  I'm down to the last sip of my vanilla tea, the rain has slowed to a slight drizzle, and the breeze that's dancing through my open window smells like fresh earth.  I'm in that state of retrospect now, and I see that it was indeed, not as bad as I thought.