Reframing
JUN 30, 2026
Bro… my buttcheeks have been itchy as fuck for the past 2 hours. I think I’m allergic to my new bathmat. It’s not red or irritated, but wow. It feels like it’s chilling out a bit, but I’m for sure throwing it away when I get home. I like to sit in the bottom of the shower, enjoy the hot water, and brush my teeth/floss in the morning. It was nice not to worry about busting my ass for a day (the shower is insanely slick), but I’d rather just be careful than have an itchy ass.
Anyways, story time! & this is a good one. Bear with the details, but they are all necessary to describe it well. So, this was 3ish years ago. An ex & I lived together for around 6 months with her brother in a house owned by their mom. We break up. She and her brother live there for probably another year or so, and their mom decides to sell it. I had let her continue to use my washer because my apartment already had a set. She texts and tells me to come get the washer because they are showing the house the next day.
It had been a long ass day already with work and practice, and I was getting over there around 9 pm. I turned the water off and came back inside to disconnect the red and blue tubes. One of them wouldn’t disconnect because the threading was so old, so I decided to cut it because those tubes are cheap. As I said, it had been a long day & I was ready to get home. Water immediately begins shooting out at a crazy rate. Apparently, I had turned the neighbor’s water off because their shut-off valve was close to my ex’s.
Her dad got there about halfway through when the water was actively coming out. He’s freaking out now with her mom, and I can hear them talking shit about me in the other room. He’s not doing anything aside from talking about how much of a dumbass I am. He let his anger get a little out of control towards me, so I finally stopped what I was doing and told him to shut the fuck up because I clearly didn’t mean to (& I’m doing everything I can to get things back to how they were). He immediately shelled up and walked away like most egotistical cowards, but he kept mumbling, of course.
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You guys don’t understand how big of a douche this guy was. He would have glimmers of positivity or of being a decent person, but you saw it drain from him in real-time. He tried sometimes, but it just didn’t seem to be in him to sustain it for very long. He would be one of the last people I’d choose if I had to pick company to spend the rest of my days with.
He thinks he’s the smartest man in the world (that was his thing: knowing shit & regurgitating it to impress others with his “beautiful” brain). He also had an incredible knack for making everyone feel super uncomfortable, so none of that knowledge had anything to do with connection or creativity. Very bland. Bleh. It felt more like talking to ChatGPT (which I’d caution people not to give too much personal info to if you haven’t already-talk to a real human). He was a “misery loves company” type of guy for sure. Anyways… obviously, I should’ve checked the water in the sink to make sure it was off before I cut the tube. Super dumb, but I was kind of over that day when I came over. If I could do it over, I would’ve waited & came the next morning after sleeping.
Luckily, her brother went back out and had it off within probably 2.5 minutes from the start. He was actually trying to help rather than add to the chaos. I’m grateful for him being there. Good dude. The only reason it took that long is because he had to find a different tool to turn theirs off. I felt incredibly dumb. I stayed in the house and pushed water out with a squeegee because I didn’t want it sinking into the floors (especially with them getting it seen by a potential buyer the next day). It was a lot of water, but I did a pretty solid job of not allowing it to sit. I squeegeed for probably 30 minutes straight (pushing it out the back porch door), towel-dried everything, and set up fans afterward.
Everything was fine, and they sold the house, thankfully. Even if that buyer didn’t come through, the house and area were so nice that it was going to sell. I understand why they were freaking out, but they were so emotional that they couldn’t see beyond what seemed way worse than it was. I knew that I could fix my fuck-up, but they weren’t making it easy by giving me shit the entire time. I deserved it, but sheez. Kick me while I’m down… I was ecstatic to pull out of that fucking driveway and never see his disgruntled face again… let me tell ya. Keep in mind, this was my ex and her family, and we had been split up for nearly a year. Talk about a shit cherry on top of a rough day.
I think of this day quite often for perspective when things aren’t going well, and it helps. Think of some of your worst days when you’re a little down (bit unorthodox, but worth a shot if you’re running out of reframing options). See if it helps to be grateful for it not being as bad as X (insert rough story like mine). This day came up when I was getting annoyed with the heat and my itchy ass from my new bathmat. Guess what, though? It ain’t itchy no more. Let’s gooooo!
Grateful for my no-longer-itchy ass because I couldn’t think of much else for several hours. It dominated my conscience like hiccups (which I had for 3 days straight one time, aka hell). Thank you for taking the time to read. Much love! You’ve likely had rough or incredibly awkward experiences with exes’ families to draw from. It could be anything, though. Doesn’t have to be related to an ex. You could just be happy your ass isn’t itching anymore! Welp, I hope your Tuesday goes well and that it trickles into the rest of your week.
Til’ next time,
Nolan
