Most of us would rather avoid negative people who complain and never seem to find the good in anything. Naturally. Well, there’s the flip side too. The overly positive people can grate on someone’s last nerve. A few years ago, I belonged to a small group of church women that met regularly. I love these girls like blood to this day–they’re my sisters with issues. We were a diverse group to say the least, but one lady was super positive, always in a good mood, never worried or upset, just always “trusting in the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.” This was all well and good until one day when a more spirited sister snapped, “Oh, whatever!! You’re just so HOLY.” That’s right. Even holiness can be annoying.
Who wants to be around some happy chirpy little bird (like me yesterday) when you aren’t feeling particularly sunny? Not me for sure. In fact, this morning, I didn’t even want to be around my self from yesterday. I read Day 1, and my higher level mind was able to rise above the splintered damaged part of my personality long enough to roll her eyes as the shrew mocked our words and overall happy demeanor in a sing-song-y voice. Get. It. Together. Suffice it to say, today went a little differently. The cold weather saps my energy and kinda steals my sunshine.
1. I counted my blessings over and over like praying Hail Mary’s for penance. “Thank you for Brad and the kids. Thank you for our health. Thank you for our home and safe cars to drive. Thank you for this warm bed and the sweet baby snuggled up next to me…” then I fell back to sleep. It wasn’t two minutes. When the 8 minutes of snooze elapsed, I reiterated.
2. Try as I might to be grateful for everything today and to look for blessings, I mostly moped and sighed and ate apples. I think it’s all the toxins exiting my body. They’re pretty close to the surface right now and affecting my overall demeanor and behavior. This is me writing around my lack of a meaningful experience. Finally, as I was trying to wrack my brain for something to bliss out about, grace stepped in. Well, grace wandered into my bedroom in the form of my lanky 14-year-old who often doesn’t leave his room for hours at a time. He moseyed in as I tucked Lily in, climbed in bed and snuggled her. I held my breath for a moment because this could have gone either way. Sometimes she welcomes his affection, and other times she offers blows to the face in return. Fortunately, she giggled and showed him a new game on her kindle and for about 2 1/2 minutes, I watched my two getting-too-big-for-my-bed babies share the sweetest moment that made even a kind of crappy day feel pretty darn blessed.
3. You guys … I’m trying to dig deep with these thank you’s, but my brain is so caffeine-deprived that right now it’s a bit of a struggle. So, I’m being real honest with you: They’re not my best work. You might get one. It might include run-on sentences or a scratched out letter or word. It might mention coffee because that’s mostly what’s on my mind. If we went on a coffee date–ever–I’ve been thinking about it. If I were using Facebook, my status updates would be about coffee.
Brief tangent: I walked into my mom’s house today at about 2 p.m. and the sultry, seductive smell of coffee wafted in my direction. My mom only has one cup of coffee per day. In the morning. I took her engaging in this afternoon delight as a personal affront and spat, “ARE YOU DRINKING…COFFEEE??!!” Completely unaware of her crime, she innocently responded, “Yes, it’s so cold. I thought I would have another cup. Do you want a cup?” Harumph. Afternoon coffee is my favorite.
So, Day 2 was less than stellar. Reading over this, I remembered that I had a divine appointment with a darling little friend, and Chloe loved all her classes. As one of my warrior princess heroines would say, “Life is so good.” But as Adam Levine reminds us, “It’s not always rainbows and butterflies.” Thinking about Adam Levine’s voice…and the rest of him makes me a little bit happier. How are you guys doing? I’m not doing Facebook, so please comment here or email me 🙂
xoxo
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