On days Dear ol’ Dad takes the girls to school, we run late. Today was one of those days.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I am allergic to being late.  Let me explain.  When the party I am in or leading begins to run late, symptoms arise.  My voice gets louder, my memory blurs, my senses begin to become dull (humor sense mainly), my legs begin to twitch forcing me to pace around, and I could swear that my skin begins to itch.

This particular day, we got out of the house a bit late, then got stuck behind a train in town.  A quick text to my bride reminding be to pray, build, inspire, and speak edifying words of encouragement centered me a bit.  You have to witness my particular allergies to understand why these wonderful words did not completely cure all symptoms.

After praying for the kids and their day, we arrived.  Only a minute or two late.  Yet again, you would have to have a deep appreciation of my ailment to understand that if we are not at least a minute or two early, we are late according to my allergies…

After dropping off the girls and on my way back to the Interstate, my gas light reminded me how low my 35 gallon tank was. I dropped by the filling station to fill up on both fuel and coffee.  After checking out, the clerk behind the counter made a remark that would change my outlook and cure my allergies completely, at least for the day.  As I walked away from the counter, she simply said, “…looks like you dropped your smile again”.  I do not remember this clerk saying this to me in the past, but my manageable goal and mental note taken was for this particular clerk never to say this to me again.  I smiled, and said that I must be taking myself a bit to seriously this morning.

Here’s to not letting your ailments (real or imagined) get the best of you on any given day.  There is nothing about any given moment that can be re-done, so pray, build, inspire, speak edifying words or encouragement, and pick up your smile!

-DoD