Last week, I had to get up early to catch a morning flight to New Orleans. We had played the night before, and I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep. My flight was at 8 AM, so I got up at 5:45 AM to catch the 6:30 AM shuttle from the hotel to the airport. And I was a zombie.

I gathered my bags together and stumbled into the lobby of the hotel. The sign said I should be waiting for the shuttle there at 6:15 AM. A nice-looking older man, looking to be in his 50s or early 60s, was sitting there in one of the chairs. He asked if I was headed to the airport and I said yes as I walked past him to the continental breakfast where I toasted up a bagel for breakfast.

It turned out that the man in the lobby was my driver to the airport. At 6:30, we threw my bags in the back of the shuttle van and I hopped in the front seat, I was the only person going to the airport that morning.

I said, "Good morning, how are you doing?" He replied with a hearty, "I'm doing great!"

I thought to myself, "Wow, it's 6:30 in the morning. How can anyone be doing great? Not only that, but usually when you ask someone how they are doing, they say "OK" or "I'm doing all right" or even "good," but rarely do you hear "great!" So I said to him, "Oh yeah, how come you're doing so great?" I was curious.

He replied, "Every morning when I wake up, I think about everything good in my life. You see, I have a choice whether to focus on the negative or the positive. And I choose to focus on the positive" With a sparkle in his eye and a finger pointed up into the air, he continued, "I put God first, then family, then work, and everything seems to fall into place. I've got a lovely wife, children, and lots of grandchildren that keep me busy. And I get to meet a lot of interesting people driving the shuttle to the airport. So I figure, I don't have it too bad."

I couldn't help but smile. It was too simple, and yet he was obviously in better spirits than I was that morning. The ride to the airport lasted only about 5 minutes, but as I said goodbye and walked away into the terminal, I couldn't help but think about what he said. So often, I think about the things that I don't have, but wish I did, or how things could be different. But maybe happiness is more of a choice to get my priorities straight and to focus on the many good things and blessings that I do have. Though it would take effort.... So at the risk of sounding like a clichéd self-help book or something you've heard 100 times, I'm telling this little story. My chance meeting with this humble shuttle driver had an impact on me.

Now if only I had gotten a couple more hours of sleep, geeez!!.... And there I go again, hehe. Alas, this isn't so easy!

Xo,

Vince