What do you do when you're blue?

So, without trying to sound whiney or cranky (and I'm really really sorry if I do)…last Tuesday, I woke up with a case of the blues.  I was bummed, unmotivated and just felt sad. After moping around for a little while, I decided that I needed to figure out how to make the blues go away so I attempted a few things…

I ate a lot of cookies, which were awesome but then gave me a stomach ache.

I tried to work on writing a new song, which turned out stupid and then made me declare myself the worst.songwriter.ever.

And then I tried to just jump into some work like cleaning out my inbox, thinking that it would clear my head, and it just reminded me of how far behind it seems like I always am.

So…after feeling really bad for myself for a few minutes longer, I thought - this would be a great day to take Chip to the beach!  He loves swimming, I love throwing tennis balls for him to fetch while smelling the salt water in the wind - it will be perfect.

To back up a bit, we've been working on training Chip without a leash.  Now, for those of you who have met my dog, you know that he's, umm…energetic.  Add in the joy of the ocean, and this pup goes nuts!  But, he does listen, especially if there's food involved, so the training has been going pretty well and I felt confident that we'd be fine.

We were on the beach for a few minutes, Chip had wrestled with a few dogs, I was enjoying the sunshine, he had been doing some swimming, and I guess the urge hit him.  Yep…remember that scene in Marley & Me?  Chip decided that it would be a great place to do a #2 in the ocean.  I can't pick that up!

So, as he's squatting, I'm yelling and trying to call him to 'do his business' on the sand (realizing that I look and sound like an idiot) and he's staying focused on his task.  As he's finishing up, a huge wave came and hit him right in the rear.  Ears back, tail between his legs, he sprinted over to me with huge eyes as if to ask 'What just happened?!?'.

Anyway, as I'm apologizing to the other dog owners, Chip locks his gaze on three little kids who are screaming, 'Doggie!!  Doggie!!'.

Now, I know there are dog people in the world, and there are non-dog people.  I get that.  I take Chip to the dog beach.  I follow the rules (except for picking up ocean poop), and don't even walk him past the sign that reminds people that it's no longer the 'dog beach'.  (Which a lot of people do!!)

So, it begs the question - when you have your choice of beaches, and you have little children in tow, wouldn't you prefer to go to the non-dog beaches?  Seriously, there are like, 5 other beaches.

To continue on…these little kids are yelling to Chip and just for joy in general, and Chip takes them up on their invitation thinking, in his little doggie brain, that he's doing the right thing.

He had a ball in his mouth so that they could play with him (at least it didn't look like he was showing his teeth or anything) and as he starts to get within 15-20 feet, one of the little girls decides that she's terrified of dogs…starts screaming & crying and tries to run away.

Again, if you know anything about dogs - Chip just thought this was part of the game!

Chip has this thing that he does - at the beach especially - where he sprints towards people and other dogs, and then loops around them at the last second, only to sprint back to me as if to tell me about it.  And this is exactly what he did.

Though he was chasing the little girl (which must be SO SCARY if you're a 4-year-old, and a huge wolf-like animal that weighs more than you is hot on your heels), when she fell down, he didn't pounce on her and drown her with kisses.  (THANK GOD.)  Instead, he looped around her and came back to me thinking that he had done a good thing.

So, I had no other choice than to leave the beach in shame.  Not only had Chip defiled the beach, but now he'd be known as that dog who terrifies children.  Bah.

So, my last attempt at ridding myself of the blues had merely raised my blood pressure, and made me upset at my dog.  (Do you realize how ridiculous it is to get mad at a dog?  He had no reasoning skills, and he did exactly what we ask of him - to always come when called!  And of course, he had no idea what had just happened!)

I came home in time for my lessons, and what was it that got me out of my funk?  One of my students had the giggles.  She's playing a Jack Johnson song on the piano, and within two seconds of starting the song she couldn't stop laughing.  She stopped and started multiple times, and finally I said, 'Just keep going, even if you're laughing the whole time.'  And so she did.  She played the entire song while giggling and smiling.

When I asked her about it, she just said, 'I'm having a really great day, and this song is just so fun!'.  And just like that, my blues were gone.  It was awesome!

So, I'm wondering, what do you do when you have the blues?  Any comments are welcome (except mean ones) because you know - there are certainly plenty of things to try!  (Even though Chip might unintentionally ruin one of them.)