Some people see a glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be.*

by chuckofish

It’s almost the end of September, the nights are chilly and we’ve had our first frost warning. My week was chock full of small, wearying failures: I discovered that the hot water heater had died when I went to take a pre-work shower at 6 am; I had computer problems in every class and didn’t handle it well; I spilled coffee on myself first thing in morning and had to wear the stain throughout the day, and I endured the usual round of irritating zoom meetings. In other words, it was the kind of week that left me looking a lot like Peter the Great’s sister, Sophia, after they stuck her in a convent.

Nevertheless, the good far outweighed the bad. After my second tech-failed class in a row, a student tried to make me feel better by asking me what had given me joy that day. It took me a while to come up with an answer, and when I did it was pretty lame — the quiet drive to work — but I got her point and appreciated the reminder that we need to concentrate on the things that really matter.

Beautiful paintings by Winslow Homer lift the spirit

Looking back on the week now, I realize that I have much to be grateful for. The DH and I managed to remove the heavy, old desk from Tim’s room and get it out to the curb without mishap. Someone came and took it within minutes — now that’s a win! I also moved several boxes of stuff to the storage unit and dragged my parents’ desk into place all by myself (no pictures yet, but I’m getting there). We’ve got a new hot water heater, which is infinitely quieter than the old one, and we will be getting a new furnace next week sometime. We’ll have hot water and heat! I need to remember that work is just work; it need not define my mood. As Lucy Maude Montgomery wrote in Ann of Green Gables,

“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”

The quest to find joy in quotidian activities has been an ongoing theme in this blog, and I for one appreciate the daily reminders that things aren’t as bad as they may seem!

*George Carlin