The Wrong Side of the Bed

That's exactly where I woke up this morning. Figuratively, not literally. In fact, I'm surprised that I was even still hanging on to my usual corner of the bed with my getting-bigger-by-the-minute puppy all sprawled out across it. His new favorite place to lay his head is on my pillow which does not bode well with me. I shouldn't have caved by allowing him to sleep on the bed in the first place, but now that it's cold he does serve a purpose...foot-warmer.

Enough about him though...back to me and my mood. I don't know why I was such a grouch when I woke up this morning. It's not like I was coming off of a terrible Sunday or anything. In fact, yesterday was probably one of my best days in Athens yet. The weather was absolutely amazing. I've discovered that fall does come to Athens but just a little later than it does in the mountains. I guess we are "peak" leaf season right now...for the 14 trees that are in Athens. Since I go to church downtown, afterwards I walked over to Starbucks and got a hot chocolate and coffee cake. I don't like coffee, but I'll never discriminate against coffee cake. Then I took my cup and bag of excess calories and made myself at home outside amongst the Townies and did some reading for class. After I finished my reading I headed home and made it there just in time for my Sunday afternoon nap. So, I can't even blame the absence of a nap on today's grouchiness. When I woke up, there was still plenty of daylight left so I loaded the pup up and headed back downtown. Much to his delight we spent the majority of our time walking around North Campus. I'm pretty sure there is a squirrel colony there. I'm also pretty sure my shoulder was pulled out of joint because he felt it necessary to run after every one of those furry-tailed rats. All in all, it was nearly a perfect day in the Classic City.

So maybe that's the reason for the funk I'm feeling. I woke up knowing that the day was going to be the exact opposite of yesterday. It would be harried, my patience would be tried (and tried some more), and there was no way possible that all the items on my to-do list would be crossed off today. Twenty-four hours simply is not enough today. Speaking of hours, when I reset my watch this morning somehow I switched the mode to military time and all afternoon I've had to subtract 12 every time I check my watch. Bother. As I was driving to work this morning I recognized that I needed to check myself before I wrecked myself so I tuned in to some Jesus music. I wish that I could say Matt Redmon and Hillsong did the trick and the rest of the day has been filled with nothing but sunshine and puppy dogs, but that would be a lie. And you know what the song says about where liars go...

A pep rally ensued in my workspace not too long after I arrived at work. Normally I'm all about a pep rally, but not today...too much to do. I'm not going to bore you with my to-do list, but let's just say it involves planning and organizing 2 parties called Open House (aka, fall visitation preview day for both campuses of the college), a bazillion files to evaluate and make admission decisions on, school work, ironing my red shirt, and painting my nails. I only added in the last thing for dramatic effect. Yes, I've been known to use it now and again. Anyhoodle, today was not the day for fun or games. So my not-so-cheery disposition ensued for the remainder of my work day. Now, I'm sure that the fact that I neglected to eat lunch had nothing at all to do with my mood in the afternoon. I tend to get a little cranky even on a good day if I do not have proper nourishment and while Harvest Cheddar Kettle Chips are absolutely amazing, I'm pretty sure they are not a friend of the food pyramid.

Now please know that I have a purpose in broadcasting the news of my grumpiness to the blogosphere. And it's not to have you tremor in fear should you cross my path anytime in the near future. All too often I put on this mask of being fine...a-ok...not a stress or a care in the world...all is happy-go-lucky and carefree. I shouldn't generalize, but I'm going to. I think much of this due to the fact that I'm female. We women are always out to conquer the world with a smile on our face even though our cute heeled shoes are causing us to writhe in pain. And I'm even going to go one step further and say that it's kind of a cultural thing too...given the Southern hospitality those of us below the Mason Dixon have been taught to show towards others at all times. Or maybe I'm just old-fashioned and living in the wrong decade. That's probably the most likely case. The truth is, we all have bad days...everyone last one of us. I don't like having bad days and fortunately I have many more good days than I do bad ones, but I believe that it's alright to have an off day every once in awhile. Personally I need to be a little more sensitive to others who I come into contact with when they are having a bad day so I'm going to work on that. I'll add it to the growing list of self-improvement projects I've started.

For me whenever I'm having a bad day it seems that there is usually a turning point during the day when I realize that my day really could be so much worse. And no, it wasn't the double cheeseburger from McDonald's that I had after class that did it today. Reminder: I didn't eat lunch and it seems that Mount Kilimanjaro has relocated to my chin...this girl needed some comfort food. Quite possibly the best $1.27 I've spent all week. I didn't even mind the $.20 price increase. The turning point came during class when we were watching a video. It featured a gentleman who grew up on an Indian reservation in Western Canada. Long story short, he had lived a very hard life with abuse and neglect and he suffered from Muscular Dystrophy. He was speaking of a colleague of his who in a speech simply said "I love this guy" in reference to him. The man said that it hurt to be loved because no one had ever told him that they loved him before so he didn't really know how to properly react. How heart-breaking to live an entire lifetime without feeling loved. My looming to-do list seemed much less important. Because I know that even on my very worst day that I have love. My parents have to love me...I mean, it's their job, right? Then I've got other family and my friends who love me too. Even more importantly though, I know that Jesus loves me. And then I take a little break from writing this post and happen upon these kinds of stories. Why was it that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Exactly...I can't remember anymore either.