Attitude is Everything!

Darby teaches me everyday. With her quirky, positive, happy-go-lucky, beautiful smiling attitude she always greets each new day with sunshine beaming through. I, on the other hand, meet the day at typically seven in the morning awakened by a phone call from the dentist as he arrives to his office bright and early. He already greeted the dimly lit fall morning without complaint and left us sleeping to await his forthcoming call as I do not wake to any other noise. I enjoy his call in the morning despite the fact that it means that I must GET OUT OF BED! This being my least favorite part of the day. I am much better suited to being a night owl, taking after my grandmother who also would stay up late into the late hours of the night with more energy than early morning. I will say, however, that this tendency to be grumpy in the morning has become much improved since I began running/walking for an hour everyday after taking the kids to school. I think my poodles agree...but that's another blog post!

This past weekend Darby had another gymnastics meet and she encountered the challenging day with joy.
She was happy to have traveled the Friday evening before with us. We went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse and she enjoyed the time the three of us were able to spend together. At one point she inquired if it was a date and I told her that indeed this was my favorite way to spend an evening with dad. We spent the evening at a hotel where she was in anticipation of the meet Saturday morning and began to practice by turning the bed into her very own trampoline. We settled in for the evening after she passed out from sheer exhaustion from the very long day. Despite the lateness of the night before, Darby awoke quickly the next day and was happy and ready to go.

During the meet, which began around 7:30am she was continually smiling. Beaming smiles from one end of the gymnasium to the other and although other girls showed boredom and worry Darby never followed suit. Instead, she was the child who was break-dancing in her warm ups on the slippery wooden floor turning in circles on her knees and rump, then playing silly as she tried to put her jacket on following the sleeve in circles like a dog might chase it's tail.

She performed her floor routine first happy with herself she got seated on the mat around the floor after the last child her rotation went she stood up and was ready to go again. (That's typically how they practice during the week).

Coach loved it, as he announced to the parent's in the stand, "Darby's ready to do it again!" She was enthusiastic until the very end and I'm so proud of her efforts! Her attitude throughout rubbed off on many of the girls and they in turn take good care of my little one as she is one of the two youngest on the team. Thanks for teaching me that attitude is indeed, everything!