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Sometimes, happiness and sadness is a matter of mere inches.
They say that in sports. Joe Hawley plays center for the 6-10 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He told me Sunday that football is a game of inches. An inch here or an inch there, he reasoned, and maybe they’d be like the 15-1 Carolina Panthers and not third-place Atlanta.
Today’s guest post is about a world of difference – in a matter of letters.
PD Webb writes the blog CricketMuse: : A Writer’s Journey as a Reader. She once had a story published in Highlights for Children, ya’ll. That’s cool stuff. She blogs about reading and writing and also about just writing.
She has this really cool concept she’s sharing today.
It’s about grripes and grreats. The difference between them, as in the NFL, is a matter of inches. They take place in that space between idealism and pessimism. In fact, Grace came up with one when I told her about this post.
(But I’ll have to ask her when I see her in the morning – I’ve blanked on it!)
Please give PD a warm CD welcome, and check out her blog, too.
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Not that it’s a resolution, but I have come to the conclusion I have got to find a balance to my aggravating days and really great days. You know the routine:
“How’d your day go, dear?”
“Are you kidding? The stoplight skipped a cycle and I’m hanging out waiting for-ever, and when I finally get to the light it goes red again! That’s before I even got to work. I dropped my keys in a puddle, I forgot about a meeting, the boss came by for an unexpected chat and I was updating my blog, which was on my break, but his frown didn’t register that information…yada yada.”
It’s soooo easy to just grrumble.
Then again, I’m not very good at the PollyAnna side of life, where all is rose petals and never a thorn.
I’ve decided to balance a great for every grripe.
Here is my ongoing Grrs and Greats list:
GRRS and GREATS
GRR: food packages that require Herculean effort
to pull apart
GREAT: handy “tear here” bags that seal with a zip
GRR: forgetful servers on a tight lunch break
GREAT: a server who remembers I like lemon with my water
GRR: running into someone and drawing a blank as to name
GREAT: not only remembering the person’s name but remembering
pertinent details that obviously hit the mark
GRR: a book that has been on hold FoREveR, only to be a dud
GREAT: grabbing that last minute read while in the checkout line and it is FABulouS!
GRR: a DVD with only previews for the special features
GREAT: an entire dedicated disc of special features WITH a bloopers reel
GRR: forgetting to wash the sheets – again
GREAT: slipping into freshly laundered sheets after a really hard day
GRR: the store drop-listed a favorite brand
GREAT: it’s on the shelf again and on sale!
GRR: hanging out in waiting room limbo for more than a half hour
GREAT: wait time of ten minutes or at least new magazines
GRR: forgetting to pay a bill and getting punched with a hefty late fine
GREAT: getting a refund for overpayment, or a rebate, or a gift for being such a valued customer
GRR: the school district decides to close school and it’s important test day
GREAT:the school district decides to close school and it’s important test day [a matter of perspective]
GRR: someone with 30 items in the 15 or fewer line
GREAT: the person who says, “Go ahead, you’ve only got a couple of things.”
GRR: getting gas and up the street it’s going for 20 cents less a gallon
GREAT: a full tank prior to a gas hike
GRR: saving up and buying that F.i.B. only to find it on sale a week later
GREAT: finding that fabulous F.i.B. on clearance, saving mungo bucks
GRR: the long dark days of winter
GREAT: hmm, I’m still trying to find something really great about the long days of winter
GRR: realizing you forgot to go to the ATM
GREAT: finding an unexpected $20 in forgotten pocket
GRR: gaining 2 pounds while sleeping
GREAT: losing 5 pounds even sneaking in an extra cookie
GRR: teller marketing calls in the evening
GREAT: an unexpected call from a loved one
GRR: the timing belt needs replacing
GREAT: a surprise residual check for $500
GRR: three views on a post that took an hour to compose
GREAT: Freshly Pressed
GRR: having a talkative popcorn scrabbler directly seated behind you
GREAT: a matinee theater with a pick of seats
Balance is indeed important. And while I’m still working on figuring out how to embrace those tedious winter days, I’m hoping you have come up with a couple of GRRS and GREATS of your own.
Just a dad ... 
yes – i love the approach of balancing the two. someone it makes the heavy load lighter.
ideally, there’ll always be a counter-balance, right beth?
I absolutely love this and sometimes things are out of our control, but still sometimes it is really all about perspective.
Or there’s something to look forward to, Janine. At least we can hope.
Great idea to balance things. Years ago, when I worked on ships, it seems like my life was full of complaining and griping. Most of the talk around me was the same. When I look back, life was pretty simple: get up, work, eat, work, sleep, work, do laundry, work, repeat. My commute was a flight of stairs. I didn’t have to shop for food or cook. Didn’t have a child or a husband to have to deal with. I honestly don’t know what I had to complain about (other than working for a psycho captain or two).
Every life has its challenges, I suppose. And its advantages?
This a million times over! Love this… And yes I’m already listing my grr’s and great’s.
Awesome post for the new year! Thank you PD for the brilliant post and Eli for the introduction!
Thanks for stopping by to read the list.
I hope she’ll make a list of her own, PD. Brilliant idea.
Glad you liked it Tiffany – can’t wait to see your lists. You’d like PD’s page, too.
Great balance! As for the long nights of winter, there’s more time to star gaze at the wonderful heavens. Awesome idea. We should all find a balance of grrrs and grrreats.
If the grey skies would clear I would!
Nothing worse than a celestial event – and cloud cover.(well, except for gluten-free pizza crust).
I think you should write a post on them, Eric.
Thanks for the limelight, Eli!
Thanks for shining in it, PD.
Haha–better a shiny lime than a dazzling lemon?
add rum and coke and you could be either.
You are so right, we need to find those GREATS that balance the GRRRR moments.
Here’s the one you were struggling with: long dark winter days = earlier bed time. In theory. Haha.
OK, next try: more days to look forward to spring! It’s called “Savor the wait”, I heard 😉
Happy new year and many GREAT moments 🙂
I’ll settle for just a handful, Tamara!
I love that Robin Williams quote about the bad in life wakes us up to the good we were not paying attention to. It’s so true; days will be hard, life throws curves….. and just like a well worn blanket it all stitches together to make something beautiful that envelopes us.
Robin Williams said some brilliant things, Rore.