What do you do when someone hates everything and you love everything?

I envision a Godzilla-like horror movie: “Pollyanna versus Grouser”

I admit it. I can stand up and say it out loud: I’m an optimist.

But it goes even further. I’m practically a Pollyanna. Here’s what dictionary.com has to say about her:

an excessively or blindly optimistic person

Yeah, that would be me. A tiny bit more digging gets me to:

Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children’s literature, with the title character’s name becoming a popular term for someone with the same very optimistic outlook:^[1] a subconscious bias towards the positive is often described as the Pollyanna principle.

Didn’t know all that. Love it.

I’m just happy. No, I’m joyous. No, it’s more. It’s deeper. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s even a little embarrassing. I’m deeply proud. I’m giddy. It can be annoying. I understand.

Then there are other people. People I’m close to. Well, one in particular. I won’t mention him by name. Well, not yet.

Dictionary.com didn’t have an antonym for Pollyanna, but I found some here:

complainer, sourpuss, nervous Nellie, misanthrope, growler,despairing, pessimist, worrier, doomsayer, pessimistic, naysayer, chicken little, curmudgeon, hopeless, crab, fusser, doomsdayer, cassandra, Griper, defeatist, whiner, Doomster,Murmurer, cynic, handwringer, Grouser, grump, bear, worrywart, mutterer, grouch, bellyacher, downbeat, grumbler,crosspatch, croaker, bearish

I like Grouser. Sounds like a good nickname or even replacement name for his passport. Maybe we could change it back when (or if) he ever earned it back–or said something nice.

Here’s another one: teenager.

I don’t know whether to:

1. Run away
2. Avoid it
3. Put my head in the sand
4. Fight it
5. Talk about it
6. Work on it
7. Deal with it
8. Discuss it
9. Try to figure it out
10. All of the above

I’m at #10 but I have to admit, I’m currently back to number one. A little telling that I wrote that one down first.

I’m not going to apologize for being happy. It’s where I am right now. It’s not where he is right now. I get it. I accept it. I can deal with it–well, not very well.

But that’s today. Tomorrow is another day.

Vent finished. Thanks for being there.

Yes, it’s cold. But we’re here now. It’s beautiful.