Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Let's hear it for optimism!

Alright, so today didn't start out quite how I would have liked it to. As usual I woke up at 6:00 am, took a shower, read the New Testament for half an hour, and ate breakfast (a nice bowl of discounted Lucky Charms). That was when it started getting unnormal. Upon finishing my breakfast, I reached in my cupboard for my bread to make a sandwich for lunch, only to find that my loaf of newly bought bread was full of ants. Needless to say, I tossed it in the garbage and settled on bringing a bag of grapes for lunch and buying something else from the Cougareat on campus. That was a disappointment, to say the least, considering that I am pretty frugal when it comes to spending money, and food court meals are not my favorite thing to spend money on. However, I shrugged my shoulders and continued on my way.

Our trash can was now full since I just threw a loaf of bread in it, so on my way out to my bike I decided to toss it in the dumpster. I had a few things in my hand along with the trash bag, including my bike helmet, my gloves (it was a cold morning), and my bag of grapes. I put the trash in the dumpster and headed back to my bike, putting my helmet on while I was still walking. It was only then I realized that my gloves weren't in my hands. The thought came to me that I probably tossed them in the dumpster along with the garbage. But, the dumpster was pretty deep, my gloves were pretty old and cheap, and I was eager to get to school, so I continued on my way to my bike with bare hands. I was at least thankful that I had a bike to get me to school so that I didn't have to walk. However, that was soon to change too. I unlocked my bike, mounted it, and rode about five feet when I realized that my back tire was completely flat. Upon examination I found a rather large pin in the tire. Well, I had to get to class, so I hurried and locked my bike back up and resulted to walking to school. And that was my unusual morning. Ants in bread, gloves in dumpster, and flat tire on bike.

So, now your wondering what is so optimistic about all of this? Well, back in tenth grade I took an art class. For some reason or another, my art teacher nominated me for the Texas Optimist Award. I had no idea why, considering I never said a word in that class. I ended up not getting the award, but ever since then I have prided myself in being an optimist. So, today when all of these things happened within five minutes of each other, I believe I had every reason to be a little disappointed. I even thought about making my post for today be titled, "One of Those Mornings." However, as the day went on I thought to myself, why make this a bad day? Why not make this one of those days where I turn things around with my attitude. Why not be optimistic? So, I decided to look to the future with hope, forgetting the events of the morning.

To be truthful, my day didn't change that much. I didn't see any grand miracles, but I can honestly say that it's a lot more fun to be optimistic than pessimistic. And if I was to award somebody the Optimist Award, I would have given it to me today.

1 comment:

Lindsay said...

Wow, Eric. Wow. That, well, that pretty much stinks. Way to be an optimist, though. Gold stars for you!