Every single day, I get stepped on.  I get stepped on by everyone everyday. I get stepped on in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening. The only time I don’t get stepped on is when the family that I live with goes on vacation. But even then, not everyone in the family usually goes so I still get stepped on! Don’t even get me started on their dog! Now, when that pooch was like 15 pounds I didn’t really care. But that lasted for like a day basically and somehow that little cute puppy wasn’t so little anymore. Now, that dang dog likes to lay on me for hours waiting for the daughters to get back from school. Did I mention that thing is now like 120 pounds? Yeah, try having that lay on you for a couple of hours. When he’s napping it’s not too bad because at least it is quiet around the house. But for some reason this golden retriever thinks he’s a guard dog or something because he barks at EVERYTHING that walks by the front window. That dog makes being a doormat very unpleasant.
I once was a fresh textured, vivid crimson colored doormat. I was a bargain at a flea market! In a very hectic crowd, I caught the family’s youngest daughter’s eyes. She came running up to me and I got that whole family to fall in love with me as badly as a typical nerdy girl falling in love with the hottest boy in school. As soon as they got to me, I got put into a bag and went home with them. Regardless of where I come from, I complete the foyer of the house. Let’s be real here, I basically tie together the pastel yellow of the walls with the light brown storage compartment and the colorful stained glass chandelier. And I tie up the room very well and I don’t even have any cheesy saying written on me like, “Welcome Home.” Well I used to be able to anyways. I used to be the first thing you’d see walking through the front door. Now I’m all worn out. I got dog hair all over me most of the time. I have pieces of grass and some mud stains on me now. I’m scarred with memories of constant rainy weather and bad accidents. My vivid crimson color has now faded. I no longer have a nice looking texture. I’m pretty roughed up now. I’ve survived a pretty long time, though. Most doormats don’t make it through for more than a couple years. Hardly any make it through when families first move let alone countless moves. Like that back door doormat, he’s only been here for a couple of months and has now been moved to the  garage. Poor dude. It’s not his fault he never really got a chance. It’s just because that dang dog kept moving him around so it was basically pointless for him to be there in the first place. But I’ve been with this family for about fourteen years now. Yep, I’m basically a legend.
Anyways, I’ll get back to that dang dog. See, my job would be ten times easier and pleasant if it wasn’t for that dang dog. It’s been a rough four years. For majority of my time being this family’s doormat, they didn’t have any pets. But all of a sudden they chose to get a dog. I’m not even sure it’s a dog half the time. I swear it’s as big as a bear or lion sometimes. I mean that thing is huge! Like it’s bigger than their little cousins that sometimes come over. He’s the reason I’m no longer a good looking red doormat. He’s made me unattractive. He sheds everywhere! Especially on me! Blonde long hairs do not look good on me whatsoever. It’s bringing down my self esteem. Now try and tell me who would want to keep a low-self esteemed, faded, torn up looking doormat? I’ll tell you who. No one. At the rate I was getting worn out, I would’ve been thrown right into that hideous, stinky garbage can. Do you know how awful it would be to spend the rest of your life in the trash? Yeah, you might travel out of the house but you would always be trash. And not just trash but awful, stenched trash. And that is not the fate I was going to allow myself to have. So one day when I saw that dang dog rowdily running down the stairs to bark at some squirrel running across the yard, I stood up. I simply just stood up for myself and did not allow that dog to step on me. And just like that my problems were solved with that dang dog! It felt great! Every time that dang dog came around to lay on me, I simply just stood up on my edges and he laid on the ground. Who knew that something so simple would work. Now that dog won’t step or lay on me anymore because I stood up for myself. Now I have a good couple of years left in me rather than a couple of months. Now, I may just be a doormat, but I know a thing or two now from my experience and that is that you just have to stand up for yourself if some dog keeps stepping on you.