Last week was a typical morning in our household, battling the clock to get to school on time.
I was rushing to get the kids ready for school and out the door before they automatically locked us out at 8 AM sharp. The doors are on a time-lock, like the giant vault doors to a bank safe.
As we jumped in the car I looked at the clock, realizing that we have 5 Fewer minutes than it takes to get to school.
We were going to be late.
I hate being late.
I told Siena we were going to be late, to prepare her to face the woman at the front office and be penalized with a tardy slip.
Her reply was not usual,” Okay, Daddy,” instead she said, “you have to be optimistic Daddy. Optimism is our powerful word of the month. We can make it on time.”
Her words smacked me like a bolt of instant enlightenment, like when a Zen master smacks his student into satori. In that moment, she pulled me our of my churning emotions and reset my mindset for the better.
I responded, “you’re right, we’re going to make it.”
Without speeding, I drove as fast as I could, thinking everything would be okay. After all, I had to show my daughter the same optimism that I teach and expect from her (to teach something, you have to live it).
As luck would have it, the traffic was lighter than usual and, somehow, we hit every green light. It was smooth sailing down the road into her school parking lot.
We normally cannot find a parking spot however on this day we found one right up front.
We unbuckled, hopped out of the car and scuttled along the sidewalk toward the school door, which we found open.
As walk-through, Siena said to me, “I told you we would make it. “
We happily entered her classroom with one minute to spare.
Some days we make it, some days we don’t. What I can tell you is this — having an optimistic mindset makes for a much better life.
The truth is the truth, no matter who speaks it, and sometimes it takes a child to show us the way.