A DAY IN THE LIFE OF TOMMY WHARTON
A Children’s Story about Being Happy
Tommy Wharton was not happy. It’s not like anything was terribly wrong. Tommy was almost never happy. Everything bothered Tommy, but today was a particularly bad day. Nothing was going right.
This morning, Mommy woke Tommy up too soon. He didn’t know what time it was, but he knew he was still tired. Then his mom made him scrambled eggs with sausage, but Tommy wanted cereal, the kind with the colored little round oats that crunched. Stupid eggs. Who likes eggs anyway?
Mommy told him to stop dawdling and eat his eggs. “I don’t like eggs,” cried Tommy. He cried and cried — real tears. Yesterday, when he wanted eggs, Mommy gave him cereal with milk, and she wouldn’t even put sugar on it. Tommy didn’t like cereal without sugar. It was yukky without sugar.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Tommy spilled his orange juice, and Mommy said she didn’t have any more juice, so Tommy just sucked his thumb and sat back in his chair and whined. “Why do I have to eat eggs when I don’t have orange juice? Why do I have to eat eggs at all? Why do I have to sit in this chair that has only one cushion when I like two cushions when I eat breakfast? Why does Mommy make me so mad?”
Tommy lived in a big house that had a beautiful garden in the back and lots of lush green lawn to play on with his outdoor toys. One of them, the multi-colored kite with a long tail, was something Tommy got a few months ago for his sixth birthday, but it was hard to fly. Tommy would have to run really fast, and that was tiring, so he didn’t use the kite too much. Besides, there wasn’t much wind today, so he would have to run even faster. He decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.
There was the basketball Daddy bought for him last week, and Daddy had put up a sturdy basketball hoop at the edge of the yard where the driveway was. The hoop was pretty high, and Tommy would have to jump pretty far to get the basketball into the hoop. That was hard, and tiring, and Tommy was already tired from waking up so early.
“Mommy, can I invite Peter over to play with me?” yelled Tommy.
Mommy was busy inside washing the breakfast dishes, so she didn’t hear her son. “Mommy!” yelled Tommy even louder, but she still didn’t hear. Tommy jumped up and down and screamed really, really loud until Mommy came out to see what was wrong, but it was too late. Tommy was very angry that she didn’t get to him sooner. She should have heard him the first time. Why did she have to run the water so loud just to wash dishes? Why couldn’t Mommy hear him through the walls? Why was life so hard?
Tommy’s mom cuddled him and told him it would all be ok, and when he finally calmed down, he asked again if Peter could come over to play.
“Sure,” said Mommy. “I’ll call Mrs. Blake to see if Peter can come over.”
“No! I want to call,” said Tommy, and he started to cry. “I want to talk to Peter NOW!”
Mommy just stopped and looked at Tommy. She smiled and said, “You can talk to Peter when he comes over. I’ll call Mrs. Blake right away. Wait here ’til I get my phone,” and she went inside.
Tommy Wharton was upset. He thought, “Why can’t I talk to Peter right away? Mommy was being mean. Sometimes mommies can be so cruel. Doesn’t Mommy care about me? I don’t ever get what I want,” and he started to cry.
“Why are you crying?” asked Mommy when she returned. “Mrs. Blake said that it would be better if I brought you over there. Would that be ok?”
It wasn’t ok. Tommy wanted to know why he couldn’t play with Peter right here.
“Mrs. Blake said Peter bumped his head this morning, and she wanted him home today,” explained Mommy.
Tommy grumbled and scrunched up his face. “Ok. Can we leave right now?”
“We can go in ten minutes,” said Mommy. “I just have to let Buffy out before we leave her alone.”
Buffy was the Wharton’s cocker spaniel — white with tan spots all over. She loved to cuddle with Tommy, even when he was sad or angry. Tommy’s older brother Keith usually walked Buffy, but he was at school today. Why did Keith have to be in school today of all days, when he should be home taking care of Buffy?
“Buffy is so needy,” thought Tommy. “Why can’t she wait ’til Mommy gets back home? I’m more important.”
But it didn’t take long. Mommy came back in a few minutes and took Tommy over to Peter’s house.
Peter lived in a plain little house. Whenever Tommy visited, he was a little worried that the roof might fall on him. It wasn’t in very good shape, but it usually kept most of the rain out when it rained. Mrs. Blake always had a pot or two in certain places inside to catch the drips, so it was ok, but Tommy always had to be extra careful not to kick the pots by mistake. When he did, Mrs. Blake always got upset and scolded him. Sometimes Mrs. Blake got so angry she said some bad words.
Still, Peter was fun to play with. Peter was always smiling. Peter loved to play with his little toy trucks and dinosaur figures. He had three trucks, and he usually let Tommy play with all of them. The dinosaurs too. Tommy liked Peter because Peter shared everything and giggled when Tommy said something funny. Today, Peter had a bandage on his head.
“What happened to your head?” asked Tommy.
“Oh, it was nothing,” explained Peter. “Daddy tripped over me while I was playing with my dinosaurs, and I fell and hit my head on the table.”
“Well that’s a funny looking bandage,” said Tommy. “Did your dad do that for you?”
“No, but he said he was sorry while he ran out the door to catch the bus. He was late for work and didn’t appreciate that I was in his way. I said I was sorry too. My mom put the bandage on. Isn’t it neat?”
“It’s ok,” said Tommy. “Did you cry when you hit your head?”
“A little. It was bleeding, and I was scared, but my mom put some ice on it and held me for a while before she put the bandage on. That was nice. I’m lucky to have a great mom and dad.”
“What do you like about your mom and dad, Peter?” asked Tommy.
“Well, we talk a lot at dinner time and Dad sometimes tells funny stories. Also, my mom reads to me when she doesn’t have to do cleaning at the hotel. Also, Mom makes the best lunches when we have enough food to eat lunch. She’s the best cook!”
Peter and Tommy played with the trucks and dinosaurs for a while and then went to the school next door where there was a sandbox they could dig in. Peter brought his trucks and a little red shovel, and they pretended to have truck races around the sand dunes they made. Tommy liked playing with Peter because Peter was always laughing and happy.
“Why are you always so happy?” asked Tommy.
“I don’t know,” replied Peter. “I just am. I like everything I have, and I have you as a friend too. I’m really lucky.”
“I guess I am too,” said Tommy. “You’re a great friend.”
Still, Tommy wondered what Peter had that Tommy didn’t that made him so happy. When he got home, Tommy asked his mom, “Why is Peter so happy? What does he have that I don’t?”
“Well,” explained his mom, “being happy has nothing to do with what you have. Happy or sad is how you CHOOSE to be, whatever you have and whatever happens to you.”
“But how come even though Peter got hurt today, he was happy when I got there?”
“Peter likes you, and even if you get hurt or feel hurt, you can be happy with who you are,” his mom said. “Happiness doesn’t just come to you. You’re either happy or you’re not. It’s your choice.”
“My choice? Even if I’m hurt? Even if I’m hungry and there’s no food? How can I be happy when my stomach is growling or when I have to eat eggs when I want cereal or when Buffy needs to go out and I’m in a rush to leave the house?”
“You can choose to not be in a rush. You can choose to like the same eggs this morning that you liked yesterday. You can choose to be happy that you’re going to visit your friend in a little while, even though it’s not right away. You can choose to be happy about who you are.”
“Can I choose to NOT be happy?” asked Tommy.
“Yup. It’s all up to you,” said Mommy.
That night, Tommy went to bed wondering. “I wonder if Mommy could be right. Can I just choose to be happy?”
Next morning, Tommy woke up really early. It was so early, he saw the sun peak out from behind the trees in his backyard. The colors were beautiful — almost like a rainbow, and they kept changing and getting brighter as the sun got higher in the sky. Tommy felt a strange sense of warmth that he knew didn’t come from the sun.
He hadn’t slept much, but he felt oddly energized. He had so much energy that he JUMPED out of bed… and stubbed his toe on his side table. “Ouch!” he exclaimed — softly so that he wouldn’t wake anybody else. He started to cry, but soon realized he might CHOOSE to stop crying and be happy. Tommy thought he might give that a try. What if Mommy was right that he could choose to be happy?
He couldn’t wait for Mommy to wake up so he could tell her about the beautiful sun and how he stubbed his toe and how he only cried a little bit. When Mommy woke up, Tommy was waiting. He smiled at her and said, “I love you, Mommy. I saw the sun come up!”
Mommy said, “That’s wonderful. What would you like for breakfast? You can have whatever you want.”
Tommy thought a minute. “I want whatever is easiest for you to make, and I’ll let Buffy out while you make my breakfast.”
And so it went — all day long. Tommy Wharton chose to be happy, and so he was. And for some reason, everyone around him seemed to be happy too.
© Marv Wainschel — April, 2022