You’re sitting in front of your comp. And forwarding a joke to your friends. You smile to yourself even as you’re sending the joke. You can imagine your friends smiling too. Guess one of them does. Coz he replies immediately “Good one, pal!”. You’re not the one who made up the joke, but you almost feel as if you did. Ah, that makes you open many of the unread mails in your inbox. You find many nice jokes in those. Very soon you have a cleaned up inbox. What an accomplishment! Something you had planned for the last one week is finally over.

You open the door only to find two leaking milk packets at your feet. The milkman sucks.. is what you would have normally said. Not today. Not now. You’re in too good a mood to get mad at him. You decide to spare your wife of the agony as well. You want to give her break. Let’s give her a surprise, you think. You hate making tea, but today is different. You make tea and toast the bread as well. Which wife wouldn’t want a husband who does that? An early morning thank you kiss is all you need to keep going.

You haven’t been going to the gym all month. Too much of work you see. Not today. Just do it, you say. “I’m doing it and I’m doing it NOW.” The gym is one busy place. The hunks, the babes, the nerds, the dudes, they’re all there. Workouts are tiring. That’s what you feel – till you see that huge guy who looks at least 8-10 pounds lesser! You saw him when you came to the gym last month, didn’t you? Wow, what a change! It keeps you going. You put in that extra 20 minutes. Ah, now your metabolism’s up and so is your spirit. A nice cold shower is all you need.

What a fresh feeling! Out comes your special deo. Now you smell good too. A quick polish to your shoes. A crispy linen shirt. And a bold red tie. Office is an hour away. The suburban train’s crowded as usual. And stinks too. But it doesn’t bother you. You’re feeling way too good to let it. The 45 minute ride is over in an instant. Thank you iPod, you say as you head for office.

It looks like something’s different. Everyone seems to be in a good mood. Including your boss! And there are two thank you notes on your desk as well. Wow, that feels good. It’s not that your work life isn’t stressful. Sometimes it’s killing! Not today. Today is different. That big ugly job you procrastinated on, all of last week gets over in a jiffy. So do the three other things you had planned to complete “next week”. You bump into the M.D. at lunchtime. He tells you you’re wearing a smart shirt! You suddenly feel the expensive linen was worth it!

Strangely you finish your work on time today. And you leave at 6 o’clock. Just as planned. Wife’s meeting you at the supermarket you see. Your nine year old son’s lost the raincoat you bought him last week.. and he needs a new one right away  “It happens” you say. “Chill” you tell him, even as he seems a bit surprised!

The evening turns out to be as fabulous as the day so far. Video games at the mall. Some fresh, vegetarian food for a change. Some healthy, corn salad. An unusual peace in the house is what you sense. Your son’s actually behaving well, your wife’s only telling you the good things that happened to her today, you even get time to read one more chapter of the novel you started reading.

It’s now time to check the inbox one more time before you retire to bed. Nothing like a clean inbox and just the one new mail. A joke it is. One that really tickles you. You feel good, just how you’ve felt all day. What a wonderful day it was! Wonder what made it so wonderful?

As you fall asleep, it dawns upon you in your sub-conscious. It wasn’t the day that was different. It was you.

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