So You Had A Bad Day?

We've all had days that we would consider to be "bad days."  It's a part of life.  So what do you do when you have a bad day?  Do you bury your head in your pillow waiting for a new day to dawn?  Do you sit around thinking about what caused the bad day, and what you could have done to change it?  Or do you do something positive to make you put your bad day behind you and move forward?

Yesterday was one of those days for me.  I could have sat around allowing a disappointing development to ruin my whole day, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome anyway.  I took some time to deal with the frustration, spoke to my wife about the disappointment, and then I went along with my regularly scheduled day, although there was some temptation to change my plans, but I couldn't.  I guess saying I couldn't isn't exactly accurate.  I could have, but I wouldn't, and there's a very good reason why I made this decision.

My son and I had plans for a father-son movie.  We had planned several days ago to go and see "Alvin & The Chipmunks" together.  My only recollection of Alvin & The Chipmunks is the Christmas songs that I heard growing up, and I wasn't much of a fan even as a kid.  Needless to say, the last thing that I wanted to do was to go and see a movie that I didn't have much interest in.  My wife even suggested that we just do it another day if I wasn't into going, but I told her that it would be wrong.

Earlier in the day, I felt like I was let down by someone.  The actual story is a post for another day.  I know how I felt when this all happened.  How could I then turn around and do the same thing to my son, who gives me nothing but unconditional love?  How would disappointing him help me feel better in any way?  It would have just made him feel what I was feeling, and probably a lot more since it would have been his dad disappointing him.  So I just sucked it up and headed out to the movie theater.

Of course, when you're having a bad day, everything seems to snowball, so it wasn't at all surprising that the movie was sold out when we got there.  Fortunately, it's a popular enough movie that it was being shown again an hour later.  We bought the tickets and went to go grab a slice of pizza before the movie, since we had time to kill.  As we sat there eating our pizza and talking, it suddenly no longer mattered what happened to me earlier in the day.  The most important thing was to be there for my son fully.

We made sure to finish up with enough time to get back to the theater early so that we didn't end up in the front row.  Hanging out and joking around with my son made the events of the day seem less dramatic.  When the litany of previews finally ended, the theater went dark and it was time for the movie.  Not to give anything away, but the movie ironically starts with the Chipmunks singing "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.  For some reason that song always makes me feel better, so it was a good start to the movie, and it only got better from there.

The movie far exceeded my expectations.  I would highly recommend taking children of all ages to see it.  If you don't have any children, go to a late night showing of it anyway.  It was that good!  By the time the movie ended, I was happy.  This movie was pure fun.  Sure, it had the unlikable character that reminded me a bit about my situation, but the overall story was fun and positive. 

My son and I ended up having a great day together after all.  It turns out that when you are having a bad day, it's best to do something fun to reverse the trend.  Who knew that a movie about singing chipmunks could provide such a renewed outlook on the day?  It didn't hurt that I had my pal right next to me to lift my spirits either.  I'm looking forward to buying this movie when it comes out on DVD, so the next time that I have a bad day, I can grab my pal, some snacks and turn a bad day into a good one again!