I recently read a children’s story about a boy with such a full head of read hair, they called him Moppy. His floppy head of hair was recognized all over town and he loved his unruly red locks.
“Mop Top” by Don Freeman
Some days he would act like a lion and roar, or swing through the trees like a monkey with his wild mop of hair. He loved his hair and loved how it made him look wild.
Never did he consider getting his wild mop cut! He was Moppy, afterall.
One day, Moppy found himself hiding behind a barrel of mops in a grocery store. He was hiding there because his mother had send him to get his hair cut in preparation for his birthday party. He was hoping to escape going to the barber shop which was right next door.
Pouting and spouting all the reasons why he didn’t need to get his mop trimmed, he took refuge behind the barrel. A barrel full of red mops!
As he pouted an old woman without her glasses came up and grabbed his fluffy mop top thinking it was just the perfect mop to clean her kitchen floors with, nice and fluffy!
Aghast, Moppy yelled, “I’m not a mop, I’m a boy!” He escaped the grasp of the old lady and scrambled right into the chair of the barber next door. Afterall, he was a boy, and his real name was Marty, not Moppy!
I retell this story with something in mind.
Sometimes, we are living a story with our lives we never meant to live. Oddly, like Moppy, it takes something like someone grabbing us by our mop top and shaking us to the realization we are not what we meant to become. We awake from our stupor and realize, “Wow, what story have I been living?”
We meant to be a loving, attentive husband or a wise and supportive wife. We meant to be bold and follow our convictions or become the artist, the writer, or basketball player. We meant to take precious time and spend it with our spouses or children. We meant to help our neighbor and care for the orphan. We meant to laugh and enjoy our life.
But, we got caught up in another story. And, it isn’t the story we wanted to live; it isn’t the story we wanted to tell. In our story, we wanted to be brave, compassionate, and courageous. We wanted to take risks and, well, save the girl. We wanted to fall in love and stay in love.
Sometimes we tell ourselves we are living one story while we are actually living another. The amazing thing is we have the ability to edit our own stories and write the next chapter. We have the ability to get our own mop top cut off and become the person we really wanted to be.
Question: Is the story you are writing with your life the story you intended to tell?
You know, Claudia, so many times we plan one way and end up in the opposite direction as you so beautifully illustrated. It made me think about my son Chris. He is a communications major and growing up always wanted to be on TV -by the way he’d be awesome and that still may come to pass one day! As he did internships throughout college he realized he has a real talent for writing and editing and really loves it. He got a job with a software magazine out of college and did really well. Unfortunately it was when the economy went south and his salary was cut and he was enduring furlough days. He got another job almost 3 years ago (in January) with a software company as a writer. There have been major upheavals in the company and just recently when the dust settled he was promoted to Vice President of Corporate Communications and Global Marketing! (Can you tell how proud I am?) He gets to write and edit but also has a department under him. I asked how he felt about it and he said – it’s not where I saw myself going, but sometimes you have to follow the favor. I thought that was very wise and we both know he can still end up on TV one day if he decides he wants to!
hahaaa, yes I know you are a proud mama Ann and I love it! I am too 🙂 and I’m sure I will have lots of stories to tell some day!
Your family stories are so cool! I love how you are always encouraging them through life to be their best selves, what a gift for a parent to give their children!
That’s a very nice story, Ann!
Well, I guess I haven’t exactly written out the script! I have some general guidelines that I want to live out regarding what I think my calling is and I think those can be expressed regardless of where I’m at. A saying I think of often is “You’ll never live out a bigger story than the one you think you’re in.” I’ll gauge my life as successful by the people I’ve invested in, helped, served and increased in some way as well as bring beauty into their lives.
Love it Michael! I know you have been in full pursuit of living a great story with your life and those around you are blessed because of it! I think you do bring beauty to many, many lives!