Powered By Blogger

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Always Smiling

In the Tree House: Always Smiling

By: Samantha S. Daviss


We all have really bad days, sometimes it’s due to life occurrences, sometimes it’s hormones, and I tend to blame the moon a lot. But for the most part, I tend to be a pretty happy, jovial person; at least I try to be.

However, there are those people in life that just make you smile and feel all warm inside when you are merely in their presence. As they enter the room you can feel the entire space fill with happiness, gratitude for life, and just the mere thought of breathing in and out that day.

Their attitude oozes joy and contentment. My family and I went out to dinner the other night and we were greeted by such an individual. This person is always saying hello, hugging you, and complimenting the person he is engaged with in conversation. When in fact he should be the one being complimented, for his iconic status in Corsicana, his lifetime dedication to his career, and his devotion to his beautiful wife he lost not too long ago. Their friendship and marriage was one we can all only hope to emulate one day. You never feel like a stranger when you are around this person, and there is no social division or separation when you are around him. He always welcomes every person the same…with open arms.*

They say that it takes twice as many facial muscles to frown as it does to smile; so why don’t we all practice that theory a little bit more each and every day, I wonder? After all a smile is contagious, and it’s something I’d like to catch each and every day…and if you think about it, it truly is contagious. When you see another person laughing, or smiling, doesn’t it always make you a little happier, and remind you that smiling and laughing truly is the best medicine?

To quote one of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite actresses (that also represents my smiling theory), from one of my favorite movies…
           
“Smile, it increases your face value!”
This line was presented so eloquently with her “molasses thick” southern drawl…the incomparable Ms. Dolly Parton, from the movie “Steel Magnolias”.

She is another well thought-of happy person. I realize everyone can be a different person behind closed doors, but to just watch her on the big screen or during television interviews…she is the kind of gal I would love to go have a mint julep with on my front porch and just laugh and giggle until my face hurt. She always seems to find the positive in everything she does in life, or every flaw she may have…she manages to turn it into something encouraging for herself and the world to learn from each and every day. And if you can’t learn from it, then learn to laugh at it…if you can’t laugh at yourself, then what can you laugh at, right?

I think when we surround ourselves by certain personalities we all tend to become “chameleons” to that personality or environment. If we are around negativity we tend to pick up on that, but if we surround ourselves with only positive thoughts, words and actions I think the world and society as a whole would be a lot happier.

From my life experiences, travel, and just day to day operations, I have noticed that all of these gadgets, technology, and “smart” thingies are not helping us, but aggravating us. It seems that since our world has complicated itself with speed and convenience, we tend to have less patience for the things we want out of life.

Sometimes it is nice to remove all those complex devices and just resort back to the “old fashioned” way of living life…simplified. And that is what I have discovered with truly happy people, that haven’t succumbed to the “new age” way of existing, they are just living life the way they have always lived life…simply, happily, and day to day with a huge smile on their face.

Every day you get out of bed be grateful you are able to do so…and clap your hands and say “World I’m ready…let’s do this” instead of “Awe man, I really don’t want to get up today”. There is always someone or something that is happy you are here another day, so make the most out of everything you are given, and learn to turn your frown upside down. I promise ... it’s contagious.

I recently took a mother/daughter trip with my mom up north, and it was fantastic. We went to Chicago, and I had never been to such a friendly place, especially in the North. You expect people to be friendly and reverently chatty in the South, but not the North. So again, their enjoyment for life, their beautiful city, and just what they have been given was absolutely contagious. Happiness comes in all different shapes, forms, and varieties…it can be a smile, a nod of acknowledgement, a quick hello, or a meaningless conversation with a total stranger.

Try it sometime; you’ll be amazed at how receptive people can be in the world. Sometimes they just need to be brought out of their shell, and (as I call it) back into the three dimensional world.





*I try hard not to focus on one individual for my columns, but the person I spoke of in this column is a true bastion of Corsicana and has been for decades, so I thought Mr. Johnny Crawford deserved the accolades he deserves for his positive attitude and huge smile he offers the people of the world every single day. Love you Johnny!!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Hardest Job You'll Never Know

In the Tree House: The Hardest Job You’ll Never Know
By: Samantha S. Daviss

As a mother you never know what is right around the next corner. It is like a tornado sneaking in across the plains of Oklahoma. All is calm in your life and then in an instant it is turned upside down. As a mother, I have endured some unexpected life occurrences in the past 12 days. Some have been good and some not so good; but I can say “Thank You” to the good Lord above, that none of them were so severe that they couldn’t be repaired.
As a mother of three boys I feel that we should have (not to coin a phrase from Disney World), but a FastPass to the emergency room. My baby, who just turned two, was casually walking across the parking lot, tripped and ended up with a rock in his forehead; and after much discussion between my husband and I; him not thinking it was too severe, and myself knowing the size of rock that came out of his head…ended up in the E.R. resulting in two stitches.
Shortly thereafter, out oldest ended up in the dental chair for over four hours, having his two front teeth reshaped, rebuilt, and molded to emulate his beautiful former, and might I add…permanent teeth. He knocked out about 75% of his two front teeth after losing a wrestling match to a bean bag chair and two buddies, and of course our tile floor. But as I mentioned, thank goodness, both of these mishaps were completely mendable.
However, the next episode in our lives recently has been the fact that my boys are all growing up…this is something that this mommy doesn’t take lightly or deem plausible at times.  But our middle son is now old enough to play t-ball, and he is absolutely loving it. He is really aggressive and competitive, and will run clear across the field to grab the ball to tag someone out. It is humorous to me to see just how different your children can be. My oldest has always loved sports and wanted to be involved, but he was the kid standing in the outfield picking up daisies and making shapes with them; but our middle child will plow through the field to tag his opponent out without any concern that he took out five teammates along the way. So I wait with anxiousness to see what my third boy will bring to the “show”.
But when you make that decision to become a mother, you never realize that it will be the hardest job you never knew. You aren’t told that you will never again be able to relax again for even a  second in your life in concern for their whereabouts, their safety or their well being. You will never again be able to walk into a movie theater and enjoy two hours of complete silence and relaxation; because you wont allow yourself to completely shut your phone off. As a mother there is not a second goes by that you aren’t on call.
There isn’t a turn of your car key that doesn’t send chills up your spine, whether you are in your car alone or your car is filled with all your babies; for fear that you might or might not return home safely and able to resume life is as it should be, and always has been. All of these little factors that you once took for granted are now major life altering decisions that could change the fate of your life and that of your family’s forever.
We shouldn’t live in fear for the rest of our lives for the “what if” factor, but becoming a mother makes you more aware of your life and the world around you.
There are so many outlying facets that affect your world after you hold that bundle of joy in your arms and watch them grow up; issues that you wouldn’t even think about before you gain the title of mother. Like when you look down at your stomach and see your skin shining in the light from the glorious stretch marks or c-section scar; you don’t view them as a form of depreciation to your body, but as badges of honor and a testament to what you sacrificed for that little person.
Or the fact that your relationship with your husband will never be the same again, you will gain strength where you never thought possible, and the things that were once important are absolutely meaningless now. He will now do things for you or your baby that you would never have thought romantic nine months earlier, but now you see them as the most genuine selfless acts you’ve ever seen one human being do for another…like take the trash out without being asked.
The honor of parenthood and motherhood changes your world in so many ways. You learn to calm yourself in the midst of a crisis to ease the fear and uncertainty your little one is having to endure; when on the inside you are absolutely screaming and sobbing inside hoping that all will be right again in their little world. You learn to hear words you might not want to acknowledge or admit to coming from your teenager’s mouth, but the importance of maintaining that bridge of communication is the most important bond you will ever battle to maintain; and the ability to accept your child for their strengths, weaknesses and errors and love them unconditionally.
As a mother you learn turn a blind eye to things you would never be able to ignore in your previous life. So to all the daughters, mothers and mothers-to-be…you must remember your life will never be the same. Your heart will be exposed for the rest of your life, but you must remain the rock in their lives and comfort them when they need comforting, but you must learn to give them wings and fly when they are ready to see the world for themselves. That release will be the most painful thing you will have to do as a mother, aside from an unspeakable tragedy which I hope no mother has to endure, but they must see the world and life through their eyes, not yours. Their way may be different than how you would do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong way.
Remember to love your child in their entirety, not just their attributes, because in the end they make you a better, stronger person.