Ruby Finds a Worry (Big Bright Feelings)

**Lisa Bueno** (0:00)
Okay, our friends, so today we are reading a story. Yesterday we read one about a little boy who wasn't sure if he was normal, right? And he had a hard time with that. Well, those kinds of feelings are, believe it or not, quite normal.
And they're not the only kind of feelings that are quite normal. There are some other ones here that we're going to talk about.
Well, I'm going to tell you, today's story is called Ruby Finds a Worry. It's another Tom Percival story. And we cannot recommend his materials enough. I will put links to them on my Amazon Affiliates page. Go and get his books, guys, and support this great artist and this great author. And support what he is doing, because it is important to pass this information along.

**Philip** (0:55)
So let's read it, shall we?

**Lisa Bueno** (0:56)
Today's story is called Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival. It's read by Mommy and...

**Philip** (1:04)
Philip. Are you ready?
Me too. Here we go.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:09)
Ruby loved being Ruby.
She loved to swing up high, and she loved to explore wild, far away places. We can see her. It looks like maybe she's in her garden, you know? And she's looking under the plants. She's found a ladybug. Sometimes she even went all the way to the very bottom of the garden. Ruby was perfectly happy until one day, she discovered a worry. We can see the worry in the picture.

**Philip** (1:47)
The artist has created this creature.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:49)
He looks kind of like a lemon, maybe? A scribbly looking lemon.

**Philip** (1:55)
It wasn't a very big worry.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:59)
In fact, it was so small that at first, Ruby hardly noticed it. But then worry started to grow.
And first, we see that the little tiny worry, which is about the same shape and size as the... Yeah. Has then become kind of watermelon sized.

**Philip** (2:22)
Each day, it got bigger.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:24)
And now, it's like nearly the size of like a large cat. Right?

**Philip** (2:30)
Yeah.

**Lisa Bueno** (2:31)
It just wouldn't leave her alone. No, it's probably the sizes. Probably another her. Another human, yeah. Another little girl.
It was there at breakfast, staring at her over the cereal box. Kind of looks like maybe a mom or a dad now. And it was still there at night when she brushed her teeth. The funny thing was, why doesn't she just ask it to go away? Good question. Let's see what she says. The funny thing was that no one else could see Ruby's worry, not even her teacher. So Ruby pretended that she couldn't see it either. She tried to carry on as if everything was normal, but it just wasn't.
The worry was always there, stopping her from doing the things that she loved. Ruby wondered if the worry would ever go away.
You mean, Ruby worried if the worry?
That's the worry. Yeah. What if it didn't?

**Philip** (3:45)
What if it stayed with her forever?

**Lisa Bueno** (3:48)
I'd name it an avidash pet.

**Philip** (3:50)
You would?

**Lisa Bueno** (3:53)
Ruby didn't realize it, but she was doing the worst thing you can ever do with a worry. Guess what she was doing? She was worrying about it. You were right. And now the worry was enormous. I mean, it fits in like four chairs instead of just one. It's huge. It could barely fit in the kitchen at dinnertime. It filled up half of the school bus, and it took up whole rows at the movie theater. The worry became the only thing that Ruby could think about, and it seemed like she would never feel happy again.
Then one day, something unexpected happened.
Ruby noticed a boy sitting alone at the park.

**Philip** (4:49)
He looked how she felt sad.

**Lisa Bueno** (4:55)
And then she noticed something else, something hovering next to him.

**Philip** (5:04)
Could it be a worry? It was.

**Lisa Bueno** (5:11)
Ruby realized that she wasn't the only person with a worry after all. Other people had them too. She asked the boy what was on his mind, and as he told her the strangest thing happened, his worry began to shrink. Then Ruby did the best thing you can ever do if you have a worry. She talked about it. As the words tumbled out, Ruby's worry began to shrink until it was barely there at all.
And soon both of their worries were gone.
Finally Ruby felt like herself again. And so does the boy. We can see in the picture that they are jumping with joy. Of course, that wasn't the last time they ever had a worry. Everyone gets them from time to time. But now that she knew how to get rid of them, they never hung around for long. And friends, I just can't say how true that is. If you've got a worry that's bothering you, that's holding on to you and making you feel awful, you know what, that's why you got it.