Pollyanna

I haven't blogged for AGES, and one excuse is that I have been a road warrior. Many trips to Melbourne and back. Once it took me seven hours, door to door. Storms closed Sydney Airport, so I was one of the lucky ones who did manage to get home. I have whinged and whined, carried on about how tough it is, so it came as a shock when a colleague described me recently as 'relentlessly perky.' It was meant as a compliment, a comment on how glad I always seem to be. This put me in mind of Pollyanna, one of my favourite childhood books. The other day I went straight to the bookshelf, where it can still be found, and opened it up. Soon I was as engrossed as ever, the story familiar and yet seen through my grown-up eyes for the first time. When did I read it last? Probably in my early teens. A long time ago. Sure, it was saccharine. And yes, Pollyanna is nauseatingly sweet with her glad game. But her determination to see the best in what you already have rather than wishing for something else is a great lesson. I read straight through it to the end, wishing I had the next in the series. Maybe Pollyanna did teach me something all those years ago.