The Power of a Smile

I woke up feeling shitty. I didn’t sleep well, didn’t sleep soundly, woke up at 3am, stayed up for two hours - and had all my worries meet me at that time of the day. Alarm went off at 6am and unlike most mornings, I really wanted to sleep longer. But no, day has to start, kids have to go to school, breakfast needs to happen – life goes on (thank goodness).

Walk out to the hallway to see that my dog peed in the carpet. Of course he did. He never ever does, and this morning, after a crappy night and waking up tired and cranky, I walk out to dog pee.

As I do every morning, I went down my list of make happy elements: lunch with Kristy – thank God. Kristy always makes me feel good, and I didn’t feel good. Lunch with her is exactly what I need. Daughter has attitude, which doesn’t help my mood. Daughter is a teenager, so I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s a good girl, just a teenager, bless her heart. I had a shorter fuse today, that’s all.

Daughter leaves for school, so I go to get my son, who is awake and reading in bed. I cuddle with him and for the first time in the day, I feel good and blessed. Thank you God for not letting me lose sight of how lucky I am to be cuddling with him. In a world filled with chaos and violence and natural disasters and grief and loss, I don’t lose sight of it, and in fact, appreciate it in a very acute way.

Son and I are almost out the door when I get a text from Kristy, who is sick and cancelling lunch. Shit! That was my make happy element of the day, and I really needed that. Shit. Ok, need to find another make happy element.

I drop off my son at school, and rather than driving to the city, where I was going to meet Kristy for lunch, I decide to go to a nearby coffee shop that has really good energy - that’s exactly what I need, good energy. So I walk into the café, set my stuff down and look up to the counter – a new girl is working today. New for me at least. She’s cute, looks a little like Katy Perry, who I love, but seems kind of serious and unfriendly, and I’m not in the mood for serious and unfriendly.  I approached her in my normal, nice way because the fact that I didn’t sleep well, or that my dog peed in the carpet, or that my teenage daughter had attitude or that Kristy cancelled lunch is not really her fault. So I order my coffee to go, even though I’m staying in, and our eyes meet. And she gives me the best smile. The best smile, really. Exactly what I needed. And I thought three things: 1) Don’t expect the worst in people, rather, bring out the best in them and 2) you attract what you think, so be very careful with your thoughts, and 3) everything will be alright, life is good. J