I want to make a more concerted effort to act happy, like this.

For we can’t control our circumstances, but we can control how we will respond. Right?

If anything, I want to be like this for my family.

I mean, who wants to remember dad as the grumpy and sour guy who was always in the dumps?

I want to be the dad that beams with hope and anticipation, regardless of where I am at.

You too?

Understand: Relationships are a major piece to this.

“It occurred to me that I wasn’t always going to be around to help you with your thinking. So I decided, then and there, that you needed to understand a very important fact about your earthly existence. It is this: Every single day for the rest of your life, somebody is going to push you in the pool. And you’d better decide now how you’re going to act when it happens.” Jones squinted and leaned toward me. “Are you gonna come out of the water whining? Maybe crying or complaining? Will you come up mad and defiant, threatening everybody? Will you throw fists or worse? “Or will you come out of the water with a smile on your face? Looking to see what you can learn . . . who you might help? Will you act happy though you feel uncertain?”

-Andy Andrews, The Noticer Returns