Looking at Life Upside Down

A few years ago, I bought Kelly a new plaque for her room. It is a ceramic of Eeyore standing on his head that says “some days look better upside down”. With all of the strife that Kelly has been through in her life, I thought it signified how we can look at our life “upside down” and maybe see things from a different perspective. The glass half full philosophy.

Something that happened to me this week really did play out the “look upside down” theory. I was at an Italian restaurant with good friends. I left to go to the “Ladies Room”. It was downstairs. When I got to the bottom there were two doors. One was marked with a “W”, one was marked with an “M”. Well, I thought, this is easier than the cutesy picture some restaurants put on their bathroom doors. In those restaurants, you spend a few minutes making sure you have translated the language or the artsy depiction so that you are going in the right door. This was easy – “W” is women and “M” is men. (Although, who ever excuses themselves to go to the “Women’s Room”!?)

I walk into the “W” room. It is a room that is really two rooms. The first room has a urinal (???!!!) and a sink. The second room, off the first room, is a toilet. I’m thinking: why a urinal in a ladies room? Is this a unisex bathroom? (I’ve been to France ;-) Or is the urinal really a bidet? I assess the urinal to see if it is a bidet (not that I’ve ever own a bidet, but I think I know the difference). No, it’s a urinal. I walk back out the door to see if I’ve picked the right room. Yes, “W” is on the door. I’m afraid to look in the other room with the “M” on the door in case there is someone doing his business in there.

Oh, well, I really need to go so I go into the bathroom where the commode (a fancier word for toilet) is, lock the door connecting the two rooms and hope that I will not be walking out to find some random dude at the urinal in all of his glory.

When I go back upstairs, I tell my two girlfriends about it. They head downstairs to check it out (there is safety in numbers!). They are positively killing themselves laughing when they come up. They have discovered that the simple iron letters of “W” and “M” are each on a loose nail. Someone has turned each of the letters around so that the “W” became “M” and the “M” became “W”. There is no urinal in the signed “M” room!

Definitely a moment where I should have looked at life upside down!