Choosing to Make a Bad Day Good

Rebecca and I awoke today to a slow winter rain.  After looking after the animals, I spent a bit of time in the greenhouse potting tulip and muscara for winter forced blooming, and burying some pine seeds from Scotland for winter hardening and sprouting.  As I write, Faithful Pat is asleep by the fire, and the terriers are at wood's edge doing their job.  They seem to have trapped a mouse or chipmunk in a length of six inch field drainage pipe, and there is a dog at each end, growling and shaking the pipe furiously, but to no avail.  If they would put as much energy into catching the mouse who seems to have taken up residence in the air return over the wood stove, it would be nice, but then that might be asking too much of them.

Over the weekend, I had occasion to attend a business meeting which I've never really enjoyed.  It is a very necessary annual event, but not my favorite way to spend two of my normal days off.  There have been some years past where I came home with a terrible headache, and one or two where something very akin to depression has grown from my participation.  But I determined this year that I would take steps to remedy the situation.  As I looked at the calendar and schedule of events, It became clear that there were some rather significant gaps where my attention might not be completely necessary. First, I determined to break away on the first night and enjoy a wonderful dinner with friends at Claddagh Irish Pub (http://www.claddaghirishpubs.com/) in the brewrey district of town .   We laughed, ate, and generally had a wonderful time.  Secondly, I noted that my fraternity, the Northern Jurisdiction of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (http://www.scottishritenmj.org/), was meeting in town for their annual fall reunion.  Better yet, the meeting location was only a few miles by freeway from the location of my business meeting.  To make a long story short, I decided to duck out and take in a couple of degrees and the wonderful baked steak luncheon that the Valley of Columbus feeds her members at reunions.  Again, my heart was refreshed by the teaching of the degrees and my belly was filled with good food, and there was laughter and fellowship all around.  I think Rebecca was amazed that I was in such a good mood when I got home.

The moral of the story is that even in the midst of things we cannot control, careful planning can make our lives much more pleasant than they would have been without thoughtful preparation.  Sometimes, our necessary vocations put us in places we might wish to avoid, and duty demands that we persevere.  But even in the most difficult of situations, when we choose to value the good around us, and to spend time with kindred spirits and friends old and new, a reality we dread can be made much more bearable, and even acceptable.  I hope all of you, my gentle readers, might find this to be true in your own situations.  A bit of time spent making a good and flexible plan can be the difference between a wonderful day and one that is awful.