Yesterday was a day.  Ever have one of those?  The phone was ringing continuously, I was trying to deal with clients, the email alarm was dinging, my Aeron chair was wobbling precariously, my iPad was binging - you get the drift.  All I wanted to do was crawl under a blanket and cry.  But I couldn't, so instead, I was grumpy.  My thoughts were ugly, I felt ugly, I made ugly faces and it was an all around ugly day.  I still felt mean and ugly even after my daily client stopped by to bring me some papers and a watermelon lollipop.  When I was finally alone, I tried to figure out what was wrong with my chair and when I couldn't get the pneumatic lift to lift or figure out why it was wobbling, I gave it a good shove and retired to the living room.  I sat in my reading chair and burst into tears.

Amazing how a good cry clarifies things.  I had a good talk with myself, and a good talk with God, and realized that I was in dire need of an attitude adjustment.  I realized that my physical pain was the major source of my feeling so out of sorts - and I let it make my thoughts and actions pretty ugly.  Not the real me at all - especially not the me that my clients know and have come to expect to see every year.  I am blessed beyond measure with a good business; I've worked hard to build it, but it is still a blessing for which I am very grateful.  Every day that I'm upright and sniffing the air is a good one, no matter how my knees feel.  I'm blessed with four cats who love me unconditionally, keep me company and forgive my many faults and the occasional bad mood.  The more I concentrated on the good things, my ugly mood went away.  I picked up the book I started and read for a little while.  I indulged in a perfectly toasted English muffin full of those nooks and crannies that lend themselves so well to melted butter.  Attitude adjusted.

I apologized to my chair and ordered some replacement parts that it probably needs and resigned myself to sitting in a hard chair until it's fixed.  My penance for my ugly mood and taking it out on everyone and everything else - a punishment I richly deserve.

Sometimes it just takes a minute to count our blessings and if we all did it more often, there would be a lot fewer bad days.  At least I know there would be for me!