On Staying Optimistic

"Some pursue happiness, others create it."

~Anonymous 

My mom is full of great ideas.  Trust me.  Her fantastic ideas recently gained even more favor with me when she made the very genius suggestion that we put everything else aside and head to Fort Ligonier Days, a local arts and crafts and food festival.

Her suggestion came on a Monday morning as we chatted during my drive to school.  After unlocking my door, stashing my purse, and turning on my classroom lights, I logged on to the Weather Channel.  Whatdaya know….the day we were planning for had a 40% chance of thunderstorms. 

In my book that translates to a 60% chance of sun, so I zoomed off an e-mail spouting that it was totally worth the risk.  I filled the square in my day planner and reserved the day for her and I.

The night before the planned outing the rains came.  Now, allow me to explain that rain typically presents big problems for outdoor festivities.  One- mud.  Two- frizzy hair.  Three- soggy food.  Four- cumbersome umbrellas.  Five- slight chill.  I could go on and on…

I went to bed the night before our day hoping that the rains would go away, but secretly enjoying the thought of bundling up in my cruddy jeans, rubber shoes, and plastic poncho.  “An adventure!” I silently cheered.

The next morning, before the sun, I was up- eagerly anticipating the day my mom and I had planned.  Much to my initial dismay, the rains maintained a steady rhythm against the roof and windows, and made swooshing noises while passing though the spouts. 

I lay in bed, pulling the covers closer, wishing the rains away.  I wanted a day of fun- carefree, umbrella-free fun. 

But the sunshine and sunbeams just weren’t in the plans.  We donned our rain gear and prepared to make the best of it.  We even started the morning with a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.  Pure Heaven.

As we made our drive, we continued to laugh about the rain and kept telling ourselves that a little precipitation was only going to add to the fun. 

For a good hour we walked through Fort Ligonier Days with our rain gear, perfecting the art of balancing items to purchase, money, and umbrellas with two hands.  It was quite the little circus act.

Deciding that we needed a good, hearty break for lunch, we headed to The Ligonier Tavern to warm up and dry out.  As we sat at the most quaint table, enjoying our spinach artichoke dip and white chicken chili, the clouds parted and the sun smiled and blue chased away the gray. 

“Well, well, well,” we snickered.  You see, we knew this was going to happen all along- obviously.  (sly grin)

We shopped and shopped and looked and talked, eventually stopping for some hazelnut java at Abagail’s Coffee Shoppe.  Then we found us a nice little park bench and enjoyed tapping our toes to the sounds of the Irish band, playing in the gazebo.

I can’t find the words to express how much I enjoyed our day.  Of course, we utilized every second, closing down the nearby mall and not arriving home until well after 10:30. 

Good thing we didn’t wait on the sun- we would have missed one heck of a super-fun, super-special day. 

Thank you, Mama J- much love.