We all have bad mornings. Days when nothing seems to be working, when we reach for a pencil only to knock over the coffee and have it spill onto the keyboard. And then all the keys stick, especially the space bar, which is just awesome, because it's not like you need the space bar literally every other second--
You get what I'm saying. Sometimes the day just doesn't start right. Or maybe it does. Maybe it's sunny, it's breezy, and the cartoon birds who help you get dressed in the morning show up right on time and sing on cue. Then something happens to throw a wrench in your day. Maybe you stretch too fast and accidentally hit one of the cartoon birds.
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| LOOK OUT! ...BEHIND YOU! |
That's the kind of morning I had. I woke up, kissed Ryan on his way out the door, fed all the critters, made myself a breakfast sandwich, and got down to painting some artwork for an upcoming fighting game artshow. I called Kaela and got the cupcakes for the wedding all squared away. I was feeling productive and looking pretty. And then halfway through the morning I got some bad news, and my day came to a screeching halt. It's the kind of news where it'll probably be all okay soon enough, but as the day continued it was clear I had lost my stride. The cartoon birds had left the building.
I dipped my paintbrush and left it hanging over today's work more than once. My subject, Mortal Kombat's Quan Chi, stared up from the page accusingly, clearly offended that I had stopped coloring his spikes.
My Nana taught me, "When you have a bad day, just start the day over. Wherever you are, take a moment, close your eyes, and when you open them, you're looking on a new day." It usually works really well, but this afternoon I needed a stress buster. Luckily, if you read the title of this post, you already know I have a fool proof one.
I made a mug of tea, broke open a pudding cup, and watched this video.
It worked wonders. Try it the next time you're upset. If you're a child of the 80s, there's nothing like it. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a certain dark sorcerer who needs his spikes finished.
My oldest daughter has discovered Mr. Rogers, who she is now enamoured of and I can't tell you how glad I am. :)
ReplyDeleteMy mother sent a letter to him once when I was a kid, just to say, you know, thanks for providing good children's television and got a reply from the Be-sweatered One himself. He was a lovely man. :)
He really was. In an age of cynicism he really just wanted the best for children. Kids pick up on sincerity and here was a guy who wasn't selling us anything, who wasn't thinking of ratings or the bottom line--he just wanted a generation of kids to grow up feeling good about themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing that he wrote your Mom back himself! You might enjoy this clip of him defending public television before the US Senate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q He says some wonderful things and completely wins over the Senators listening to him--Senators who in 1969 had never heard of Mr. Rogers. I have to admit, I get a little teary at the end.