Highs and Lows

“Keep your face toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.” Maori proverb.

Trixie Flagston was on to something.

Now it’s true that she’s an infant appearing in the comic strip “Hi and Lois” but that kid knew how to pick her friends.

Specifically, Trixie is best buds with a ray sunlight of called “Sunbeam”, whom she communicates with through thought balloons.

Mort Walker, the strip’s creator, said he got the idea for Sunbeam by watching his own children.

“It looked so cute," he said, "seeing a baby sitting in the sunlight, luxuriating in the warmth and brightness, with sparkly dust flying around, glistening in the sun’s rays.”

Debuting in 1954, "Hi and Lois" focuses on the Flagston family and offers "a portrait of a wholesome family with traditional values," as one website described it.

"Wholesome family" is enough to turn my stomach, but then this was the Eisenhower Administation so I shouldn't be surprised.

I would never had admitted to reading this strip when I was young, of course, or that I especially enjoyed the ones with Trixie and Sunbeam, but I did, and I do, so bite me. (Just kidding).

Walker also created "Beetle Bailey" and--fun fact alert--Lois was actually Bettle's sister. The strip was drawn by Dik Browne, the brains behind "Hagar the Horrible" which I proudly read.

I hadn't thought about Trixie and Sunbeam for ages until last week when I had my own interaction with the star at the center of our solar system.

I was washing the breakfast dishes, and, as usual, I had about a dozen things going on in my head.

The fact that I don’t remember a single one of them speaks to their importance in my life—or the lack thereof.

So, I’m washing out my ceral bowl when I got blindsided by a blinding sunbeam that came barging through the blinds.

What the hell? I’m trying to get all worried, upset and agitated here and this boisterous beam is throwing me off kilter.

I thought that this type of sunlight at this time of day yet is reminder of fall, which will be followed by winter, when it’s cold and miserable, and it’s gonna suck big time—

Shining On

Then I realized how good it felt to have this powerful light shining on me and that this was a really good thing that I should enjoy and appreciate.

So, I shut down the woe machine, clear out the crappy thoughts and basked in the beautiful brightness.

Getting giddy over a sunbeam sounds pretty pathetic, I’m sure.

It may be good enough for Trixie, but as an I adult I should be chasing more challenging pursuits.

But, no, this simple pleasure was doing me all sorts of good.

It brought me back to the present while clearing the dark thoughts out of my head.

I wrote about a similar experience I had on the express bus while commuting to work a few years ago—just don’t ask me when.

Again, it just worked out that the X27 was turning up 69th Street and this ray of light came shooting down from the sky and filled up the bus.

Light is the way I want to go. For too long I’ve dwelled in the dark corners of mind without even realizing how unhappy I was.

I’ve had a a couple of bright moments recently that have given me hope that I can upgrade my attitude.

A few weeks back I was walking on Third Avenue when I passed my eye doctor’s office, and I recalled how that used to be the home of a local weekly where I worked and was quite miserable.

Off I went, regurgitating the past, dumping on myself for working in the hellhole, when I just kind of shifted gears and let the sun shine in.

"Thank you, Lord for getting me out of that place., I thought, and I felt as if a weight was coming off my shoulders.

What I liked about this experience was that happened naturally. Sometimes when I'm really down I had to drag myself out of the misery and fight for every inch of happiness.

But this was natural and healthy--like a ray of sunshine.

It's been raining all this weekend, so it's been pretty challenging fighting off the blues.

But I've got a few Trixies up my sleeve.