After taking a very nice relaxing week off last week, I came home Sunday night only to pack my bags and hit the road again for the week. I’ll have to admit that, even for me, it was an aggressive mission. Five days on the road covering states in the following order: Alabama, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and Florida. Somewhere, even in my deep, twisted, never-going-to-stop mentality, this still seemed like a little bit of a stretch. My travel partner on this trip was Stan Long, and as we ended day four, we both noted that we really weren’t that tired, even though every day had been a very early start and we have traveled/worked until late at night almost every night.
It could be because I am still so fresh coming off of vacation, or because I have really made it a point since coming back from vacation to smile more. After taking a few hard looks at myself in the mirror while being out, thinking about my future, the speed I work at, and the time I spend with Amy and the kids, it became very clear that every time I looked in the mirror I wasn’t smiling.
My dad used to always say that life is like a mirror; when you smile in it, it smiles back at you. And I thought to myself that for the second half of the year I would try to do a whole lot more smiling. Even though some things have gone my way this week and others have been huge disappointments, it has been easier to handle all along with a big smile.
I’m back on my diet, at least most days of the week. I’ve been watching less TV and reading a whole lot more while being on the road. And I have made it a point to be delightful to everyone that I have come into contact with. They say smiles are contagious and I hope it’s so.