Day Fourteen: Fake it 'till you make it

If you are a parent with children under 5 years old, I think you might be able to identify with this post.  Have you spent hours lately relaxing in a hammock?  Drifting in and out of a nap and leisurely swaying in the breeze?  Yeah, I didn't think so.

When Hank climbed into this hammock, I don't think he intended to be followed by three wiggly critters.  But they found him, and what followed was slightly less relaxing than the ideas above.  Instead of abandoning ship, Hank said "Let's all pretend we're sleeping!" I think that bought him about 12 seconds of stillness. 

 

I have a lot of great parenting memories of just this sort of thing.  Kids whining and fussing in the car?  Here, let's turn on some loud music and pretend we're all having a great time.  Running through a sudden chilly blast of wind and rain, dragging arms and legs and sobs and sand toys and heavy wet beach towels to the shelter of the van?  Quick--get everybody buckled in, and then stand outside for a minute with Hank, command a huge cheesy smile on his face, and then take a self-portrait of the two of us "enjoying" the weather.  We look at the photo, and even though in the moment the smiles on our faces were pretty fake,  we have added smiles to a memory that otherwise would have been pure misery. 

 

Is this how we learn to be thankful in all circumstances?  I'm not at all talking about putting on a facade for the purpose of fooling others.  If we paste a fake smile on our faces, and hold it there for a minute, will it help a real smile wiggle its way to the surface?  If we say "thank you" out of duty, will it cause us to stop and recognize the undeserved gift of the situation? 

 

So when you see me in the grocery store checkout line with a busted yogurt container all over my shoes, Jude calling Bali with my phone, and Eva helping by throwing eggs up onto the conveyer belt, you'll understand why I might answer you by saying, "Just wonderful, and how is your day going?"