Senso1970's Blog   Thoughts, ramblings, and accountability from sunny Madison, AL

A long time ago I used to go to college. This was the late 90’s early 2000’s.  Because the university I went to was in a city 150 miles from where I graduated I opted to live in student housing.  I also worked for the university in a few different positions, including the front desk of the hall I lived in.

One of the better parts of the job was getting to greet almost all the residents.  I say almost all because there were those dedicated few who just didn’t want to socialize and would go so far as to ignore people who talked to them.  I respected their right to solitude and quickly learned the few and would only look up to see if they were walking by or up to the desk.  If they were clearly walking by I’d look back at what I was doing, usually studying, and leave them be.

And then there was the other end of the spectrum.  The super sociable who loved to be greeted back home each time they walked in the door.  My favorite being a guy named John.  He’d say the same thing every time you greeted him with a “how are you doing today?”

“Peachy keen as always,” was the response every time.  Sunny day, “peachy keen as always.”  Rainy day, same thing.  At the beginning of the fall semester when it was still nice and warm outside he was “peachy keen as always.”  Then at the end of the semester when it was freezing cold and dark most of the day, same response.  There just wasn’t a time this guy wasn’t “peachy keen as always.”

We used to wonder if there was something wrong with him.  How could you be happy all the time?  It’s not natural, right?  I mean there had to be some events going on in this guy’s life that were not good.  Tragedy, in some form, befalls everyone.  How could he truly be “peachy keen as always?”

I get now what he got then.  He was always that way because he chose to be.  He decided that no matter what came his way he’d take it with a smile on his face.  Even the bad stuff.

We all have that choice.  We can’t decide what will or won’t happen to us, but we can decide how we’ll react.  Whether events rule us or we rule them.  When we decide to rule them our life truly can be grateful at all times, if that’s what we want.

It took me a while but I learned his lesson.  So the other day when I went to Starbucks in Athens, Alabama the barista asked me how I was doing.  And with great pleasure I responded, “peachy keen as always.”  I hope you come to feel that way too.  Have a great day.  Peace.