Vision Lost - Vision Regained

Good morning, folks. It's been about 2 weeks since my last
email, and I apologize for the delay. I try to write once
or twice a week, but I've had my head down trying to muscle
my way through a bunch of projects, including some potential
new business ventures.

I don't know about you, but when I wake up in the morning
(and I'm not a morning person at all), it takes me a while
to get going. I wish I could be more like my 9 and a half
year old son, Christian, who wakes up happy, smiling and
peppy every single ding-dong day.

No matter what may have happened the day before, Christian
forgets about it, and starts all over again. To him, each
day is a new beginning, and I sure could learn a lesson
from him.

My days tend to start the same -- I wake up at 6-6:30 am
and plop down in front of my laptop to read emails while my
kids get ready for school. I hate this part of the day
because I notice it takes my eyes longer to focus than
usual. I'm not sure if this is a result of recently turning
50 or sleep deprivation from working too hard to make ends meet.

My eyes are so blurry in the morning, and no amount of
rubbing or washing them seems to help. So I sit there in
the dark, with my laptop, trying to read my email, with
glasses on, with glasses off, rubbing my eyes, and moving
closer and closer to the screen. It sucks.

Anyway, I just get so frustrated dealing with my poor vision.
I get aggravated. And that mood tends to set the tone for
my mornings. And this is not good when you are facing
Christian's bright, happy personality. I don't want to be
happy. I want to be angry and brew a little bit.

It takes time for the mood to pass. Usually we''l go out to
meet the school bus early, I'll sit down on a large stone
at the top of our walkway, and he plops down in my lap,
throws his arms around me and we "chat".

It's hard to stay angry and moody with him in my lap,
smiling at me, hugging me, kissing me. It immediately
transforms me.

I become a new man.

I become a better man.

I become the man my boy sees as the "greatest Dad in the
world."

And I become that much closer to the man God wants me to
be.

What about you?

How does your day start? Do you let early morning
frustrations and unexpected events set the tone for your
day? How do you turn it around? How do you flip it and make
lemonade out of lemons?

Until next time,

Steven Schneiderman