Smile

Life has thrown us a few curve balls recently.

For example:

Brian was hospitalized for three days.

I smashed one of my big toes with a hair dryer. (It's okay, you can laugh. It wasn't funny at the time or several days later, but now I can chuckle about it.)

My knee has been bothering me, so I've decided not to continue with my half marathon training program. (Boo!)

One of our credit card numbers was stolen.

There were a few days last week when I was frustrated, annoyed, and tired. At one point, I was so spent that I had a little pity party in my head.

But I kept reminding myself that this too will pass.

That sometimes, things don't go the way you want them to.

Thankfully, this week our lives are getting back to normal.

I can feel my negativity subsiding, and my positivity rising.

My attitude was buoyed by two God-incidences, one yesterday and one today.

Both reality checks happened during conversations, one by e-mail and one in person.

In the first, a friend from work shared that the reason he has missed so much work lately is that his adolescent son is in the hospital.

Then, at the Open Court training today, a woman in her early thirties showed me a picture of her mom and explained that she died a month ago.

I got the chills.

I thought, "I can't even imagine."

And then, I immediately told God that I had heard him loud and clear. I vowed to stop feeling bad about all the yucky things that have happened recently, and move on, knowing it could have been so much worse.

For me, sometimes writing down those things/people/places/activities that make me smile helps me to move my focus away from the not-so-pretty things in my life.

Here are five things that have made me grin recently:


1- In the driveway, you'll find these four buckets. They are filled with the ugly marble tile that up until this morning graced the floors of our hall bathroom and laundry room. So glad it's now in pieces. It makes me smile.

2- When I was visiting the Auburn library yesterday, I caught a glimpse of George, a Schnauzer therapy dog, lying next to a young boy on the floor. The 7-year-old was having the best time reading to his canine buddy. I couldn't help but smile.

3- Today, my lunch was an hour and ten minutes long. That's double what I usually get! In that time, I cruised around Natomas, stopping at SAFE Credit Union and Michael's before devouring my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. All smiles!


4- These Girl Scout Thin Mints (and Samoas) make me smile. (I love them right out of the fridge!)

5-This book by Amy Grant is causing me to think, reflect, and you guessed it, smile.

I'm hoping that you are blessed with at least five smiles today, too.

J