Optimism

Optimism is a funny thing. Being able to see the upside of things comes easy to some and with much difficulty to others. Is it a choice or part of our unconscious? I don't know, and I don't really care. (This answer is the same reason I did not do too well in philosophy or psychology in high school.) But I've always found it easy to see the bright side of everything. Sometimes it is even funny. One of our first arguments as a married couple was because I was too positive and she was too negative. Some people fight about real things, we chose silly things like that. But she's right; I have always been so optimistic that it has led me to do things a lot of people wouldn't. I laugh at my own neurological disorder, I had no problem walking right up to the prettiest girls and asking them out (Now hearing "no" that many times kind hurts the ol' optimism.) and it makes me just smile through things. It takes a lot to get me worked up and mad. I had a fellow employee at Domino's tell me once that even when I was upset I was still smiling and people couldn't tell that I was mad.

With that in mind, optimism was tested recently when my family flew out to have the most horrible, unforgettable family vacation I have ever experienced! First of all, we flew to Spokane, Washington.

As you can tell, I had the cutest flying companions anyone has ever gotten to fly next to. They were great on the plane, no crying or screaming at all. We got lots of compliments from our fellow passengers about how good they were. Now Spokane, this place is ugly. Or so I've heard. I don't know for myself because we landed on Monday afternoon and drove out of town Friday morning, and it was foggy the whole time! I'm talking San Francisco fog. The most visibility we had during the entire week was about a quarter of a mile. So I've heard it is an ugly part of the state, but I kind of enjoyed it; found it much like I imagine it would be to live on the clouds. Except with traffic.

The adventure then took us on a drive across the mountains to the Seattle side of the state. As we drove into the valley, we got to see this beauty:

Mt. Rainier. A welcome site for someone who has been away from the area for any amount of time. The moment was short lived though because it's Seattle. It began raining an hour later and did not stop for the rest of our trip!

One of the reasons we went out was to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! Congratulations to them! 50 years,can you imagine? I'm at the 5 year mark with mine and I'm already scouting rural places in the woods! We had a spectacular time visiting with them, seeing all 12 of their children together at the same time and reliving some memories we have and many many others we have heard about that happened before my time. It was a wonderful party, a good time, and I am quite proud to have them as grandparents!

The next day we had a cousins' birthday party coupled together with a Super Bowl party. Being a huge Seahawks fan, there is no need to go much farther into that...

So here is where the optimism comes in. This was my precious daughter the day after the Super Bowl. My grandfather pointed out to me that 27 people were at the birthday/super bowl party and 23 came down with a norovirus! We spent Monday through Friday on my cousins' couch losing our guts! We took turns too! Addie got it first, then me then my wife. Our son was ill the whole time but not nearly as bad as the rest of us. His diaper rash was the stuff of infamous legends though. Poor kid. BUT, he didn't puke, so he may have actually won, I'm not sure?

We went on a 14 day vacation and spent 6 of the days sicker than dogs. We only got to see about two-thirds of the people we planned to see, and if it wasn't for my grandparents party we would have only seen about a quarter of them.

We weren't able to eat normally, without the fear of exploding, for two days after we returned home. But you know what...I had a blast! Sure the virus was horrible, but this is what it was all about. I got to see most of both sides of my family. Because my family is so large and so spread out around the country, we don't get together very often as a whole. And while not everybody was able to be there, we got to see more than we thought we would. My wife and I got to eat at two of our favorite restaurants, which they have neither of in Arkansas: Red Robin and Chili Thai.

While some people would focus on the fact that we were sick and felt like dying, I like to look on the happier times of the messed up trip. And I have to give a special shout out to my parents and sisters and wife. The last time we all got together a year ago I wanted to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Dallas. We weren't able to because of time constraints. So this time, all together in Spokane, they took me out there. I had a blast. We didn't eat until after 8 and it was raining and foggy, but it was awesome. Then I come to learn afterwards that I was the ONLY one in that group who actually likes the Old Spaghetti Factory. So here's a toast to small sacrifices for the ones you love! (And to my three sisters, I think this proves that I just may be the favorite.)