Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Bright Side

I decided to change my "title" to reflect what a friend said to me the other day. She was sharing with me the craziness of her schedule for the month of August and said, I am going to need you to find a bright side for me on a daily basis.
She reminded me that I came up with them on a regular basis when we shared our child rearing days. One time was when all three of her children were sick at the same time with chicken pox. They were miserable and so was she. I tried to cheer her up with a bright side...."you get it over with all at once", instead, like most families, one kid gets the pox, then a couple weeks later, the next one gets it etc., and you could be miserable for a couple months.
The bright side is, I suppose, the same as making lemonade when life gives you lemons. I was a recipient of my mom's expertise at finding the bright side in life's challenges. Its the choosing to find the good in a not so good scenario. The turning the negative, into a positve. The finding, (no matter how small,) something to smile about.
Example: You give your little ones a popsicle. They eat it much too slowly and melts down their arms and onto their clothes and they are a sticky mess. The bright side could be: well at least they were outside eating it than in your living room. Or, good thing they were just in their bathing suit and not their sunday best
Get the picture? Somehow those little things that could be frustrating can be turned around with a bright side.
My friend made me realize that through the years I had taken up that mantle from my mom and offer the bright sides in life to those around me. It sometimes is a challenge to even consider there might be one, but it is a way I hope to bring support and maybe some humor, at least a different perspective on the happenings of life.