Today was a Monday, and quite frankly, it FELT like a Monday from the moment I woke up. Unbeknownst to me, I was supposed to take my kids to school today. They normally go in with their dad, but today, I was supposed to drive them. The only problem was, nobody let me in on that little secret.
It had been a busy weekend with Brody's basketball tournament, washing/grooming the dog (a 3+ hour process) and a variety of other things. I had decided to sleep in a little today and had stayed up later the night before because of that.
So, imagine my surprise when Brody came charging into my bedroom, saying urgently, "Mom, you have to get up - it's almost 7:20!! We'll be late to school if you don't get up now!" (to be fair though, school does not start to 8 a.m. and we live three minutes from the school so he was exaggerating a tiny bit - wonder where he gets that from?).
I am not a morning person. Generally, I try not to talk to anyone until I've done my 20 minutes of yoga and had a cup of coffee so I can be kind. I was NOT kind this morning. No, I was angry. And it showed. And it wasn't attractive.
I was irritable and crabby with my kids and annoyed with my husband. I walked with harder steps than necessary and even closed my bedroom door a bit, shall we say, enthusiastically.
I dropped my kids off on a less than good note and then felt terrible about it which only increased my bad mood. The morning progressed and it seemed every little thing went wrong - from discovering we were out of coffee (Yikes!!) to having mapquest directions that were actually incorrect to forgetting my checkbook AFTER I did a bit of shopping and was ready to check out.
You know the kind of day I mean right? The kind of day where you get up on the wrong side of the bed and things just seem to go downhill from there. Please tell me I am not the only one who has experienced this!
The thing is, I knew as I went out to my car to get my credit card so I could make my purchases, that my day could continue on its downward spiral or I could change my attitude. (why is it so much easier to tell our kids this than to live it out ourselves?)
I had a choice to make.
I couldn't control all the circumstances but I could control my reaction to them. And let's face it, my husband did not lay in bed last night plotting to start my day off on the wrong foot. He just forgot to tell me about the change of plans. It's not like we live an hour away. It takes 10 minutes tops to drop the kids at school.
So, getting a hold of myself, I popped in a praise CD and sang out some worship to God at the top of my lungs. I realize that people driving by me probably thought I was slightly unhinged, but it worked.
Later in the day, when my cracker fell cream cheese side down on the floor, I laughed because the dog thought he had hit the jackpot. I shrugged when I didn't get my entire to do list done.
It really is my attitude that makes the difference in how I see circumstances that I often have no control over anyway.
If the choice is to laugh or cry, I'm always going to choose laughter. After all, "A cheerful heart does good like a medicine." And, I'll add, a sour disposition makes everything leave a bad taste.
~ Blessings, Bronte
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