The Power of Positive Thinking? An Experiment

A few years ago a number of books were written by authors attempting to do slightly nutty things, like saying yes to everything (Yes Man), and living biblically to the letter of the law (The Year of Living Biblically). Because my son accuses me of negativity (talk about the pot calling the kettle black), I decided to try, for one whole day, to see the positive side of every negative that came my way. I figured a travel day to California, alone with my two children, should provide plenty of opportunity for downer material with which to work. And I wasn't wrong. So here it is, Kim's experiment with "The Power of Positive Thinking:"

• Waking up at 3:30 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight
• Woo hoo, a vacation!
  And another day to be thankful for being alive.

• Mistakenly packed brand new bottle of sunscreen in carry on bag. Lost brand new bottle of sunscreen in security.
• Someone in security may be one sunburn away
  from skin cancer. My sunscreen could make the difference
  between life and death.

• Didn't replace cap securely on my take-out cup of tea. Spilled tea down front of self. 
• Had been chilly in airport terminal. Hot tea warmed me up. 

• On first leg of flight could not sit with my children. 
• On first leg of flight did not have to sit with my children!

• On second leg of flight sat with Abby who wouldn't let me sleep.
• I'm so blessed to have a healthy,
  happy child who enjoys my company.

• Planned to spend afternoon in Newport Beach. Spent half hour searching for a parking space. Only had enough quarters for one hour and 40 minutes in the meter once we found one. 
• Since we had no sunscreen, extra time spent driving
  and limited time available for parking meant
  that we wouldn't be over exposed to potential sun damage.

• Lunch at little cafe on the beach was completely horrible.
• Ate less for lunch than I normally would, allowing me to fit
  more comfortably in my swimsuit at the pool later.

• Hustling back to car to avoid parking ticket, nearly run down by skate rat. 
• Skate rat said an enthusiastic "Thanks!"
  when we jumped out of his way. What a nice boy!

• On way to hotel parking lot drove over jagged piece of concrete which punctured my rental car tire.
• Lucky to make it to parking lot where
  I could safely sit and await roadside assistance.

• Sent my children, by themselves, to find our hotel room and hang out and wait for me so they didn't have to sit in the car.
• Hotel employee graciously accompanied them to room,
  showed them how the tv worked, and advised them
  to stay off the balcony. 

• Had to wait 30 minutes at the height of my first glorious afternoon in sunny CA for roadside assistance to come and change my tire.
• Once again, lucky to be out of the sun since
  I had no sunscreen. And roadside helper guy
  was super nice and cheered me up. 

•  Food at restaurant for dinner was mediocre at best.
• Had 25 oz. Blue Moon. Who cares about dinner?

• Rob had client dinner at 8:30 p.m. Came in at 1:00 a.m. 
• He's alive!

• Rob's excessive snoring indicates he enjoyed good food and drink. 
• I did not smother him with a pillow,
  proving that I am not, in fact, capable of murder.

• Slept on floor on the other side of the room to escape Rob's snoring.
• Woke up today. Another day to be thankful for being alive!

Well, that was fun. 24-hours of positive thoughts. Now I hope breakfast is good today because I didn't have a decent meal all day yesterday. And the &*!%$ sun better come out because I used all my rewards points to fly out here for this vacation. And we better see some MLB players in this hotel after all the ways they're inconveniencing us with the security around here. And I can't believe Ryan Howard isn't participating in the home run derby tonight! And the damn kids are fighting already and it's only 8:30 in the morning. Some one better get me a Blue Moon stat. And make sure that lid is tight on my hot tea....