Smile--it's contagious

Yesterday, in the rain, I packed up my bottle returns and headed to the grocery store, hoping to get the weekly shopping out of the way before the Elite Eight March Madness game. (Yes I was wearing my green and white!)

As I pulled into the grocery store, my heart sunk a little--there were very few open parking spaces.

Nice.

So . . . in the rain, I packed up the bottles in a wet cart and headed towards the store.

With the rennovations at our neighborhood Kroger, there was some anticipation of WHAT NOW? when I entered the doors. It seems like daily whole departments move and are relocated, creating a temporary scavenger hunt while you shop.

The good news is the bottle return was somewhat empty today. (Not a lot of people want to mess around with bottles and cans in the rain)

The bad news was, I would need at least an extra 15 minutes for my "quick trip" because I couldn't cruise the aisles by habit anymore. So as I refolded by paper bags I took a deep breath and headed towards the deli counter . . .often the most challenging experiment in patience you can put yourself through.

It can be busy at the counter. And you never know if the person in front of you has just started order 1 of 15 specialty slices they want or if they're finishing up.

It doesn't take very long to realize the new deli area is nearly double the old space. It's laid out better too--which seems to improve the speed that the clerks are able to help customers.

I'm feeling more optimistic. Cheerful even.

I realize that I'm watching one clerk in particular--and calculating if she will be the one to wait on me. I hope she does. She's beaming. Happy. Cheerful. Chattering with her coworkers, laughing and . . . SMILING at the customers!

It's contagious. We start smiling back. In fact we even smile at each other in line--which seriously NEVER happens at the deli line.

She is back from vacation and had a great time. Where did she go? "Nowhere, I stayed in town, but it's great to relax, refresh and realize--hey, it's just meat and cheese--no sense getting all stressed out. Life is good!"

Life is good.

It does matter how you approach your job--how you enjoy life. And it is contagious. We can choose to drudge through the motions . . . or we can choose to be happy. If you want to surround yourself with cheerful happy people, sometimes you have to start the smiles first.

It was a quick shopping trip.
I made it back home in time to see the Spartan's win another nail biter. Next stop--the Final Four.

Life is good.