Smiles All Around

Today started rough. Mason woke me up way before I was ready. After spending all morning moving furniture and preparing the house to be torn apart during the mold abatement process, the mold crew arrived to let me know it would not be safe to start their work until the roofers were finished replacing the roof (not to mention the irritation I was already experiencing with the roofers for not being finished yet). I felt all annoyed and grouchy, but then I decided to be happy that we wouldn't have plastic up over the weekend as planned and to enjoy my day.
I had planned on needing to be out of the house as much as possible since there were supposed to be guys tearing moldy walls and ceilings out of my house, and so I had set up a playdate with my beautiful sister Caitlin and her fantastic kiddos. I packed a nice little lunch, surprised The Dude early with an early pick up from school and headed up to a great little park about halfway between where we live and my sister's house. Mase declared the surprise "Great!" and we set out to enjoy the beautiful day with which we had been blessed.
As Mase, Rissa and I ate dinner this evening, I realized I felt really happy. Content. Peaceful. Lately, by dinner time, I have not been feeling any of those things. I've mostly been feeling frustrated and tired and just plain finished. And frazzled. I often feel frazzled at the end of the day.
Feeling these good feelings got me thinking about how my choice earlier in the day to be happy about the situation that was frustrating me helped to reshape the day I would eventually have. It certainly helped that I got some fresh air, my kids played hard and had fun, and I got to spend time with some of my most favorite people in the world, but really, that small, easy choice shaped the way I would feel for the rest of the day. And that has kept me smiling all evening.