Perfect Days - Pass It On!

So this past Saturday, Miss Fabulous and I got up a little too early, say 6:45am. That's considering we'd been to Disney On Ice the night before and been up WAAAAAAY too late for a 5 year old.

Earlier in the morning (aka buttcrack of dawn) the husband had gotten up to catch an airplane and make his way to Guam and leave us for more than a week. I seriously despise my husband's long business trips. I'm okay with 2, 3, even 4 days but missing the weekend as a family just stinks in my book.

Mama seriously wasn't pleased to be up quite that early. With the new job, it's up just after six every morning and sleeping in would have been nice. Kids just don't cooperate. However, I did my thing and got the giant poodles fed, emptied the dishwasher, made the beds, and finally Miss Fabulous was ready for breakfast. She's a princess ya know....gotta wait until the mood strikes her and it WAS the weekend, so we can be more flexible on schedule.

After breakfast, I needed to go take my shower quickly. We had a party at the Disney Store to go to and I wanted to be at the 11:00am one because another mom from the preschool had told me they were going to that one. My daughter is a social creature, extremely extroverted, so...having a friend there is cool stuff. I was looking forward to going to that for her, I knew she'd really enjoy it.

However, I didn't go take my shower...I decided to mess around on Facebook for a few minutes. Shut UP - it's just a few minutes! I'm so thankful I took the time to do that. I read my emails and checked comments on my profile and responded to a few (I didn't have time to respond to ALL of them just yet.) Then I hit the button for my home page to see what folks were up to - sometimes it gives me nice ideas, laughs, or just smiles and that's always a great way to start out the day.

Well, I happen to be a fan of a few (okay several) businesses on there. Shockingingly, I saw a post from the shop where we buy our dog food. "This world is filled with people who amaze and inspire you, but it isn't often that it is a child! Her name is Morgan. Her love and compassion for dogs is remarkable! She is also smart, sassy and very social! Children like Morgan were born to make a diffence in this world. In the meantime, she can make a difference in ...my world by just gracing Pet Empawrium with her smile, while being a fan of Jett!"

(Just to clarify - Jett is the name of one of the dogs who "own" that store, formerly abused and now rescued and with a wonderful family. For some odd reason, Miss Fabulous and Jett have a relationship. She adores that dog. She loves all of them, but there's something special about Jett in her eyes.)

Can you say wow???? That post knocked my socks off. I was in tears nearly immediately after reading that. It's not like we're close friends, we're merely customers - although huge supporters! My daughter had gone into the store with my husband on Friday to get the dog food so I had one less errand to do myself while he's gone and Miss Fabulous had a suggestion for the store owner about her closed sign. Simple as that and yet these words arrived on my desktop first thing in the morning. I normally wouldn't even have seen it. Something was in the air.

So, after a few minutes of extreme happy-heartedness and elation, I bounced off to the shower. We got to the Disney Store in more than enough time, got a Starbucks, and my daughter had some Princess & The Frog fun with a friend. Then we shopped a bit around the store and got a birthday gift for another princess. Her friend and her mom were still there too. Finally, we said our LAST goodbyes, went on our way, hit the potties and went to have lunch. Amazingly, we met up with said friend, baby sister, and her mom and sat with them for lunch.

First off, I oughta mention that this lady works at the Disney Store - a dream come true in my book! What could be better for a Disney junkie like me??? Their family loves to visit Disneyland and DisneyWorld (they went up another huge notch on my amazing scale.) Then, I find out that our daughters were born 6 days apart AND her daughter is also tall for her age, so we've experienced a lot of the same craziness with people's expectations and idiocity. To top it all off, we've applied to exactly the same schools for next year. Oh yeah, and she's a Facebook junkie too. I LIKE this woman! I could seriously become her stalker but in the meantime, I just added her as a Facebook friend.

After a really wonderful lunch, AND compliments about our daughters' behaviors from a complete stranger (wow!), Miss Fabulous and I regretfully set off to finish our errands. I swear we floated around the mall, we were both pretty euphoric. We hit Sephora where I put make-up samples on my daughter before getting the cleanser I had gone for and then found a sale at Cache - so I got these great jeans for myself at really low prices. I rarely buy anyting for myself, so that was kinda neat.

We decided to go through Nordstroms and hit the potties before getting in the car again and had to walk past the kid's shoe section before walking out. (I had previously told Miss Fabulous that she would be needing some new sandals and the Lelli Kelli's should come out in about a month.) Amazingly, right there by the door were the most magnificent (if you're a five year old girl), jewel-covered, metallic pink Lelli Kelli sandals. She looked at me and asked if she could try some one. Oh, why not! And yes, we walked out with them.

We played around the house for a bit and Miss Fabulous enjoyed her sandals. I got a chance to chat with my lovely mother-in-law (actually she really is!) and told her all about our day as well as about the dog food store Facebook post. My MIL was as happy as I was! In fact, she became a "fan" and posted a note for the store owner!

Our neighbors happened to be hosting a St. Patrick's Day party that afternoon/evening. So, Miss Fabulous and I prepared to go over for a bit and it was nice out so I told her to wear her new sandals with socks. There were other kids there and she was so pleased to play with them, that I let it go on for a bit longer than I normally would have. We came back to the house for the mandatory dinosaur chicken with a promise that we'd go back to play with the kids. And we did, after Miss Fabulous did an outfit change. My lovely 16 year old neighbor did some Irish dancing and led everyone in a group dance.

The five year old neighbor boy seemed to be a bit intrigued with Miss Fabulous and wanted to kiss, but then again, he wanted to play kissy-face with me too. (Note to self - move before puberty if they neighbors haven't done so already.) Such a scandalous situation... They insisted on being partners for the dance although the other kids were all pairing with an adult. It was cute and the kids were all so sweet.

And then it was time to go home and take that bath and get the kidlet to her pillows! We had a lot of fun and giggles talking about our day and she went to sleep happy, healthy, and easily!

I was still on Cloud Nine! What a wonderful, wonderful day! It made me think of the end of Legally Blonde and the Perfect Day song playing. I seriously felt like that. It had been the most perfect day. I sent off an email to my MIL with the store owner's comments so she could do some grandma-sharing with her friends and family and headed downstairs to my treadmill. I got in a fabulous four mile run and was majestically sweaty, and my heart and soul were absolutely dancing.

Kind of makes me wonder, just one kind deed - could it make the perfect day for someone else? If I could create that feeling for someone else, it sure is worth trying, regularly! Pass it on!

Hard Times Just Aren't So Hard

Now I get to drive to work in the mornings again and I've again picked up listening to a new (new to me) radio show. Mainly music is what I go for, some fun and meaningful tunes and the sunshine on the way to work put a smile on my face and make me think about how wonderful life really is. I get a kick out of smiling at other people on the way to work as they sit in THEIR cars - especially when you get a smile back. I also really love my Starbucks trip and on occassion I love to pay for the car in back of me at the drive-thru with my personal message sent via the barrista, "have a great day and pass it on!" Not really a better way to start the day.

Back to the radio show though; today they were talking about "good news." People were calling in sharing their own personal good news and it was cool. A mom called in to say that her son is coming home from Iraq for Easter; she'd not gotten to see him for any of the other Holidays and this woman was just ecstatic. A wife called in to say her husband was coming home from Afghanistan and they're having a baby. Then a doctor called in to say she'd just found a donor for one of her patients, a 16 year old girl in bad need of a lung transplant. Wow! The next man called in to say he's celebrating his one year anniversary being clean & sober. Yup, I will admit to some tears.

Life really ought to be about these good things. When you've got problems and annoyances, we should spend less time worrying about those things and stressing ourselves out and refocus on the good news. There is always good news to focus on.

A little over a year ago, I was under some serious stress between moving my Grandma out of my house, trying to help take care of my grandmother and transition her to Assisted Living, my dog (aka first baby) passing away from cancer, and in the middle of my mom hating me and my dad temporarily moving out of the house with her and moving in with ME and my family. It was rough, my back and stomach were hurting regularly to the point that I was thinking there was something physically wrong with me and I might need to go to a doctor and on a few occassions the ER. I don't really go to the doctor, so that's a big step for me. I see my dermatologist and my gyno for my regular check-ups and don't feel the need to see any other unless I'm near death. I was regularly developing lumps in my breasts and in other lymph areas and becoming increasingly concerned.

Then one night while my husband was traveling and my daughter sleeping, I saw a movie that I hadn't seen in years. City Slickers. Sure, it's a great & entertaining movie but on that one occassion, the movie actually SPOKE to me and I learned something from it. The secret of life. You have to find your one thing - that's what makes you happy. It's different for everyone, you have to find YOUR one thing. I was ecstatic and bawling by the end of the movie, but I did make some changes from then on. I took back control of my life and started working to find MY one thing.

Well, I found it. I know what my one thing is and refocusing my life around that one thing has given me back my health and sanity and my life. The pains and aches and lumps disappeared - all caused from stress. Of course the issues with life, my grandma, and my mom still cause stress - but not like it did before. Like water off a duck's back....you have to learn to let it roll off. Some might temporarily stick, but you have to find the sunshine and let it go. My one thing is so much stronger and brighter than any of the negative stuff; if I focus on that...I can live and enjoy my life.

Now listening to that radio show was a great reminder. Whatever MY problems or YOUR problems might be, they absolutely will always pale in comparison to those of another person. I certainly don't need a lung transplant and I am not the mother of that 16 year old girl who needs it either; no matter what I'm going through, it's nothing compared to the issues of those folks. So let it go and keep the good news. Let God take his time focusing on those who are REALLY in need of his help and learn to help yourself just a little bit more.

Who'd have thought you could learn something from City Slickers and a Country radio show? I have my one thing and I'm taken care of. I'm going to keep smiling at people as I drive my car and hope it rubs off. I couldn't ask for more out of life.

Thanks Billy Crystal.