Where did Pollyanna come from?

It was about 1984 and I had a one and a two year old at home. After seeing the statistics that families break up and are scarred for life that deal with Cystic Fibrosis I decided to seek counseling to be sure that didn't happen to us. Dr. Franklin was great. He asked if he could do a full blown psycho analysis on me. I said sure why not. It was intense and multifaceted. When everything came back I made an appointment and he began. "This turned out exactly as I had expected," he said. "See these numbers 1-10 here Gina. Well, a 1 or a 10 wouldn't be good news. Everything should be pretty much down the middle. 4-6 are ideal." He then showed me the sheet with all the data. I looked and scanned down the numbers and there was a 1 and a 10 everything else was right down the middle. I looked up and said but I have a 1 and a 10??? He said, "Yes, I know. The one is how you react to stressful situations. I would be concerned about that but I understand after meeting with you for some time now that you have a very strong faith. . . but your son has a fatal disease Gina. Yes, I know but God has it all in his hands and everything is going to be just fine," he teased(speaking as if he were me). "Maybe I should be concerned but I'm not, you're just a Pollyanna with a strong faith and that is just fine."

So that is how the Pollyanna thing started. Many doctors and nurses have said the same thing to me over the past 25 years and I'm sure there are some who would tell you I'm nothing but a pessimist. lol I do understand that many times people will ask me how Mike is doing and I tell them. I may be a Pollyanna but I AM REAL. I would have to lie to sugar coat things and make it all Rosy all the time and I just can't do that. I tell it like it is and hope people know me well enough that I don't have to go on and on about how it is going to be okay! It IS okay and God works all things out for our good. Sometimes that good is right there and visible and sometimes we just have to hold that promise close to our heart and trust. But anyway that is how Pollyanna came to be. I just know things always work out when you let God take the wheel. I am very optimistic about the future no matter what that holds because I know who holds the future. He's right there with us every step of this journey and the one thing CF has done for me is keep me very close to God in my daily walk. I am so thankful.

Oh, and the 10??? That was for intelligence level. Really kind of funny because I'm not really "book" smart but the test was more analytical and I got a 10 out of 10. He said he had had some doctorate types take the test multiple times trying to score a 10 and couldn't. I'm sure I couldn't do that again ;). But it gave my self esteem a little boost :).

Have a blessed day - make it a good one!