Oscar’s Pollyanna

/ roughwighting

beach, Kauai, seashoreThe good news is that we’re on a tropical winter vacation.

The bad news is that we’re stuck in a cavernous underground garage.

My guy and I have been enjoying long walks on immense beaches with the sun shining as if she’s a blooming sunflower.

But it’s time to stop searching for whales and instead research the closest grocery store for the night’s meal.

No easy feat, we find our “looks like every other” rental car in the resort’s garage and my guy clicks the key fob to unlock our little Chevy.key, key fob, rental car, battery, blog

Nothing happens.

He clicks again. And again.

Nothing happens.

I know it’s our rental car, because I’ve memorized the last three numbers on the license plate (431). (Let’s just say we’ve ‘lost’ a rental car in the past…)

My guy hands the clicker over to me, knowing that I sometimes produce magic.

Nothing happens.

The rental papers are in the car’s glovebox. What can we do? Ah, we discover a tiny button on the key fob, and a key pops out. However, upon searching the car’s doors and trunk, no keyhole can be found.

With a sigh, my guy turns away, but I insist: “Try one more time.”

He does, and the locks spring open as if saying Ha ha. Fooled you.

We smile with relief and race off to the “Living Foods” store to collect some local fruit and vegetables and seafood, making sure we don’t lock the car.

After shopping and placing the grocery bags in the car’s backseat, my guy  hits the ignition button and starts the car.

Well, no, he tries to start the car.

No ignition occurs.

No engine action.

And then we realize, the key fob’s batteries are dead.

“This car only has 600 miles on it!” my guy exclaims, worry lines furrowing his brow.

But my response is the opposite. “Thank goodness this didn’t happen in the garage.”

He peers at me under his sunglasses like I’m the namesake I’m sometimes called: “Pollyanna.”

I point to a building immediately to our right. Long’s Drugstore.

“Batteries,” I explain with not a little bit of harrumph to my tone.

The car’s manual (in the nifty glove compartment) lists the kind of battery that’s needed, and I sit in the car while my guy grumbles on the way to the drugstore “No way they’ll stock this kind.”

I singsong back, “Think positive!”

And while he’s gone, I vibrate positivity. Please, please, PLEASE may the right battery be on hand.

battery, key fob, blog storyFive minutes later, my guy appears with  a tiny battery, already opening the key fob and replacing the old one.

He presses the ignition button, and Vroooooom!

“How lucky are we?” I shout out gleefully.

The expression on my guy’s face is priceless. “Lucky?” he asks, dumbfounded. “The car is practically brand new and the fob battery ran out.”

“But we ended up in a spot right next to a drugstore where, miraculously, it sold a rarely used battery!” I sing.

“Pollyanna,” he declares.

“Oscar,” I return.

Each of us is proud of our nickname.

In my guy’s mind, Oscar the Grouch is a realist. In my mind, Pollyanna is an optimist.

How about you?

Is your glass half full? Or half empty?

cosmo, Hawaiian drink, Kauai, The Beach House

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has your flower just bloomed, or is the bloom almost over?

hyancinth, pink flower, Kauai

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your sun rising? Or setting?

sunset, sunrise, Kauai

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does your rainbow promise gold? Or rain?

rainbow, Kauai, glass half full, blogging story

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oscar the Grouch, pessimist, blog storyAre you an Oscar?

 

 

Or are you a Pollyanna? Pollyanna, optimist, blogging story

 

161 thoughts on “Oscar’s Pollyanna”

  2. Oh Polyanna is a miserablist compared to me! I was once described as half man half Labrador so hard did i wag my tail. Happy to look for life’s sunny side up in everything.. drives my wife demented btw

    Liked by 5 people

  3. The glass in neither half full or half empty, it is refillable. I am a logical Pollyanna. We look outside and see heavy clouds and rain pouring down. I will say, “We best wear warm, waterproof jackets.” Hubby will say, “It looks like it will clear up soon.” Your positive attitude certainly paid off as it always does. Enjoy your holiday!

    Liked by 5 people

    • Isn’t it sad that in this society, we almost have to APOLOGIZE for believing in the good, and for being joyful as often as possible? Yes, let us wear those badges proudly, Jill. xo

      Like

  5. I’m more of a Pollyanna, or as I say, “cock-eyed optimist.” Sometimes I’ll pretend and say Oscar stuff (especially in the current political climate), but inside I’m really thinking it will be OK.

    I’m glad you’re having a great vacation. You and your guy seem to work together well. I laughed at losing the rental car because that is something I’d do. I don’t remember cars, and I have no sense of direction. 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  7. I’m still freaking out at the thought of being trapped underground with a car that I can’t open!

    I’d say I’m an equal mix of Pollyanna and holy-crap-we’re-all-going-to-die! Anything car related usually triggers the latter 😏

    Liked by 4 people

  9. Yay! So glad that Pollyanna was right and Oscar had to find something else to grumble about. 😉

    I am generally a Pollyanna unless I am Cold, Tired, Hungry, and on my last straw! 😯

    Liked by 3 people

    • As always, I’m chuckling while reading your comments. My guy is the same – I do NOT let him get to the point of CTHLS (cold, tired, hungry last straw), in which Oscar comes out with a roar. After many years of marriage, he’s even learning to point at rainbows now and then. 🙂 xo

      Liked by 1 person

  11. This piece has the ring of reality, not fiction.

    Once my guy, a prince, took a walk along a Pacific beach, took out a kerchief from his pocket which unknowingly dislodged his car keys and a big story ensued. After he called a locksmith, he called me and never mentioned the pickle he was in until the problem solved. Call me Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day! And call him a PRINCE! 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  12. Oh I am with you Pam. I am always the look on the bright side of life when things like this happen. the whole stroy oozes ‘lucky you’ in my opinion. I think Dave and your Hubby would likely get along famously. 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  14. Perfect! Thanks for the reminder!
    No glass to leave empty or fill half-way! (Slam all glasses into the wall! I’m an angry man!)
    Flowers wilt with my touch! (But, then, so do all women!)
    No sun! (Just rain, snow, and wrinkles!)
    I’m Oscar’s father! (So sorry! So sad! Your, Dad!)
    With all that, I’m a humble human with feelings who can predict my future!
    For you and ‘your guy’, and the rental car, this one time, I say, “Cheers!”
    ♥♥♥

    Liked by 6 people

  16. Great story, Pam. I married a Pollyanna. But somehow over the years, I think as his reflexes have slowed he’s become an Oscar. He calls it planning ahead; I call it worry worting. As for me? I’d just refill the glass (unless it had fresh ice tea in it; then I’d empty it first). Enjoy those strolls.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Such a good point here, Janet. I think as we age it’s harder to keep our Pollyanna mindset, and easier to become an Oscar. But I’m determined to stick with my rainbows and prisms. Life is so much more colorful that way. Here’s a toast to us (with my always filled or being-refilled glass of iced tea with a slice of lemon). xo

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Ha, this gave me a chuckle. I was raised a pessimist, so I’ve worked hard to outgrow that attribute. I think I land somewhere in between pessimist and optimist now. This is a topic that hits home, and must be why it made me laugh. I even mentioned it in a recent post.
    https://loreezlane.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/opposites-attract/

    Pollyana and Oscar sound like my husband and I, only the other way around. Recently my computer was giving me trouble. We replaced a part that didn’t fix the problem. So “my guy” bought another part and told me it would do the trick. I was skeptical after the first part didn’t work. When the package with the part arrived, I refused to try it until he was present, to show him how he was wrong and this one wouldn’t work either.

    I was wrong. It worked, and I’m typing on my newly fixed computer now.

    Have a nice weekend, Pam. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    • I thoroughly enjoyed your January 22 post, Lori. You and I were on the same wave length! Yes, I’d be like your guy – “knowing” that the ordered new part would work. I’ve got this weird idea that if I think positively, then the positive will happen. I seem to be right 80% of the time, which aren’t bad odds. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  20. The typical Pollyanna’s energy confounds me. But I’m often the one holding pompom’s when everyone else has no rally left. We need our Pollyannas! It’s a love-scowl relationship 😉 Great piece Pam ~

    Liked by 3 people

  23. Same in this relationship. He’s Oscar and I’m Pollyanna. And that’s not about to change any time soon! I’m glad you managed to get to the store before the battery totally died. And, I didn’t know that the key fob was so important to start the ignition of certain cars… What has become of this world, where a normal, no-problem, key can’t do the job anymore?

    Enjoy your time in warmth, Pam!

    Liked by 3 people

    • You’re the only one of the commenters on this post who makes this relevant “knock-on-the-head” point – why can’t a car just start with a plain ole key-in-the-ignition? So much easier. I drive an older car (11 years) and I love using a real key. Hope my car runs another 10 years, cause I don’t want one of those key fobs! ;-0 Have a great day, Pollyanna. ❤

      Like

  24. I read Pollyanna a couple of years ago, and I think she gets a bum rap. So yes, I am a Pollyanna to my husband’s Oscar. It could have been us in your scenario, Pam. The only thing that would be different is if I was responsible for memorizing the license plate, we’d still be looking for the car.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Haha. My memorization skills have gotten better due to dire necessity. 🙂
      Recently I “made” my 9-year-old granddaughter watch the Haley Mills “Pollyanna” movie with me. Have you seen that one? I was afraid my granddaughter wouldn’t like it – it is, after all, an old, old, OLD movie. But she watched, mesmerized, and gave it a thumbs up at the end. Yay!

      Liked by 1 person

  33. We seem to be an “it is what it is” couple, taking the good with the bad in stride, for the most part. But I don’t enjoy the feeling of being stranded anywhere outside the safety of my nest at home. Hubby is a problem solver extraordinaire and when I do venture out I’m grateful that he always seems to know what to do, no matter the situation!

    Liked by 3 people

  34. I’m a “realist” who struggles daily to become an optimist. And sometimes I succeed! In the scenario you’re describing, I think I would be in the optimist camp. If the fob’s battery was going to die, it couldn’t have happened in a better place!

    Liked by 3 people

  35. What a fun read. I know I can come here and go away with a smile or even a giggle. Every trip gets a little surprise. I had the battery in a remote opener for the car doors replaced only to find out the replacement (new) was bad. There was also a loose wire in the fob. Quality control isn’t what it used to be. This is quite a conversation starter and I’ve enjoyed reading that part too. I like to wait so I can read all the comments. 🙂 I’m a pragmatic Pollyanna and my glass, I’m damn grateful to even have one. I can fill it to any level. 😉 I plan but if we hit the skids, I look for the silver lining. I’ve never become angry with someone pulling out in front of me to slow me way down. There are always cops ahead or Elk in the road. It’s how things happen for me. There is always something good in the rough patches. 😉 Glad you had a good outcome with this. At least it makes fodder for a story. 😉

    Liked by 3 people

    • You include a number of wonderful philosophical musings here. I never thought of it the way you put it, but YES, we’re lucky we have a glass at all!
      I laughed at your (all too true) comment that Quality Control isn’t what it used to be. Oh my, isn’t that the truth. Except for my cafe’s handling of my Earl Grey Tea Latte, no water, 1/4 pump vanilla, non-fat milk, with foam. They get it right every time!
      The smiling Pollyanna in me bows to the Pragmatic Pollyanna in you. xo

      Liked by 1 person

  36. Great story, Pamela, and well-written. It not only addresses the Oscar/Pollyanna viewpoints, but also how trying travel can be at times. A car with only 600 miles on it and the fob battery is dead. geez. I always take the lighter side in a trying event, because otherwise it just gets too dark to navigate. You can’t keep afloat if you’re anchored down in misery.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Jet – your metaphors are superb! I so agree – if we focus on what goes wrong (instead of what goes right) we’ll be too bogged down to travel anywhere in this world – literally OR figuratively. Here’s to skipping over the bumps in life. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  37. I can be both, depending on the situation. I don’t sweat the small stuff but I often worry about life in general. I especially worry about things I can’t change which is not good.

    Liked by 3 people

    • It’s hard to be a Pollyanna when we worry, thus easy to be grumpy when we think of all the things that can go wrong. We humans seem to have a propensity for worry. When my worry thoughts begin, I sing a little mantra in my head. Helps tremendously. 🙂 (But I admit, making a batch of chocolate chip cookies helps shut down the worry thoughts too. I don’t know why, but it does!)

      Like

  38. I’ve been in a funk for two years but I’ve really made an effort to snap out of it recently.
    I appreciate how blessed I’ve been to know people like you and have the life I do.
    And thank you for helping me appreciate life even more!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Funks are part of life, part of the “Oscar” down-in-the-dumps times (I suppose that’s why Oscar lives in a garbage can….) Glad that the Pollyanna part of you is stomping down the funk and helping you see the light of friends/family/LIFE. xo

      Like

    • In your poetic way, you brought to mind the few times that my glass HAS been brimming over. Too much isn’t good, because we’re so busy trying to sip it down to reasonable measures that we miss the joyful taste of what’s in the glass. So I raise my almost-but-not-completely-full glass to you, Balroop. Cheers!

      Liked by 1 person

  41. Oh, I love this!

    99% of the time I am Pollyanna, but every once in a while, Oscar the Grouch needs to assert his voice. Since having kids I’ve actually become more Pollyanna-esque. I realize how much I treasure peace and quiet and happy voices now that I’m a mom, lol! 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    • Now that’s a feat, Kate – to be more Pollyanna than Oscar when raising kids. At one point in my son’s (early teen) years, he told me I looked like an attractive green-eyed monster. Yikes! My Oscar must have been coming out when he was pushing me to the limits. Haha. Pollyanna-smiles are much more child-friendly. xo

      Like

  45. Pam, sometimes it’s eerie reading your posts as this is exactly the conversation my husband and I would be having over such an incident! 😀 I mean, seriously, how fortuitous that you got into the car the first time to then realise you needed batteries outside a shop that sold the right type! (And they are so small!) Your positive vibes definitely did the trick!😀 Oh Pam, I had to laugh at the aside of losing a rental … not as bad as losing one’s own car in a carpark! Yep, guilty! How embarrassing … and incredibly frustrating! 😀

    Liked by 4 people

    • I giggled with pleasure to hear how you and your guy would have (and probably HAVE had) similar conversations as the one here. And thank you for understanding that without those positive vibes, we’d still be sitting in that underground garage!!
      And also, Annika, yes, I have lost my own car in a car park. But to be exact, I lost my car in the car park because I was searching…..the wrong car park.
      We’ll be embarrassed together. 🙂 xo

      Like

  46. I’m not an Oscar, but I’m a cautious Pollyanna, so I’m not sure how that works. I am more half glass full than empty, though. We had our key fob go dead one time in Yosemite National Park. That was interesting. LOL! I’m glad you’re enjoying a wonderful vacation. Good for you!

    Liked by 3 people

    • Hmmmm, a cautious Pollyanna. I could just hear what she’d have to say about THAT. Pollyanna would bring out her prism, show the rainbows on the wall, and say, “Wake up! It’s allllll good!” 🙂
      A dead key fob in Yosemite National Park would be even more challenging than in an underground garage. I’ve been to Yosemite many times, and not many fob batteries in that beautiful place. ;-0 Yikes!

      Like

  50. We have a similar refrain at our home when my wife’s hearing aid batteries need replacing. A computer voice literally speaks “battery!” in her ear. They can get as fancy as they want with their manufacturing design blueprints, but the dependency to power the damn things continues! – Marty

    Liked by 3 people

  51. Hm… I am Pollyscar, no Oscaranna.. Oscarpolly? I am a little bit of both. I try to be a realist which is sometimes a cynical way of looking at things. If I don’t get my hopes up too much then I am not as disappointed. But I do try to stay positive most of the time and I get excited when things turn out the right way. I also believe everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we know why it was different than we planned and sometimes we don’t. ❤

    Liked by 3 people

    • I have to tell you, Kim, you are a Pollyanna through and through. I know, I know, you claim here you’re an Oscaranna or a Pollyscar, but no, But the reason you feel so much, get so excited and happy, and then feel the sting of defeat or disappointment once in a while, is because you believe in the good at all times. Just sayin’…. xo

      Liked by 1 person

      • Well… that is all true! I guess I am more of a Pollyanna than I thought. But I don’t always look at life with rose colored glasses. I have been through too much pain and disappointment for that… 💜

        Liked by 1 person

  54. Both! In situations like the key fob, when things are happening over which I have no control, I think my natural Pollyanna is a gift—gratitude for what is going right in those moments is healthy, isn’t it? But in planning and projecting, in order to make a decision about what to do, I want not to look at a thing with the delusion everything will be rosy just because I hope it will. That’s something I learned through a few really hard knocks, which were more like the anvils Rhode Runner drops on Wile E. Coyote’s head that turned him into paste.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Ouch. Sorry… smiling at your apt description of what it feels like when something that SHOULD work out knocks us out instead. Yes, hard to be “Pollyann-ish” about that. But we don’t have to be an Oscar, either. We just get up, wipe the dirt off our hands, and try, try again. 🙂

      Like

  57. I really enjoy those tidbits (long version of them ^^) of your life! I love the style and the picture, your blog is kind of a novelty to me, I am discovering this style and I really like it! Happily following you from now on!

    Liked by 3 people

  59. “Always look on the bright side of life” is my motto. 😀 My mom used to say of anything that wasn’t good happening in her life, “This too shall pass.” Some things just stick in one’s mind and in this case, helped me through difficult times in my life. xx

    Liked by 3 people

  60. Well, you’ve taught me a new nickname for my husband: Oscar. I have this theory (haven’t read your comments to see if anyone else has the same). Every Pollyanna must marry an Oscar. Every Oscar must marry a Pollyanna. This is necessary, to keep us all balanced. (P.S. I previously felt prompted to save this comment. Then the computer froze and I lost your site! So am happily grinning that the Universe said to copy & paste… Am thinking “How fun!” instead of “Damn computer!” Case in point.)

    Liked by 3 people

    • Case in point indeed, I type while laughing. No, no one else suggested your theory of a happy, successful marriage, but I think you’ve figured something out. Perhaps you should begin a new career on counseling. I happen to think you’d be brilliant. Here’s to our Oscars, Kathy. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  62. I like to think that I’m a Pollyanna also. I find I might be an Oscar at the beginning but I’m easily moved to the Pollyanna side. Life is an adventure…enjoy the journey is usually how I feel.

    Liked by 2 people

  64. You are just fun, and it comes across so freely in your writing. I’m so happy to follow you and your stories/adventures. I also love how you keep your paragraphs short and have lots of space. I actually learned that lesson this week! Cheers!

    Liked by 2 people

    • I’m following you now too, Kevin. Our wonderful Diana Peach introduces me to writers through her posts in wonderful ways.
      Thanks for enjoying my humor – helps with life’s little irritations. 🙂 I find that blog readers prefer stories that are short, with spaces and photos. I happily oblige. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yay! I began writing a short story yesterday that will be in a few parts, but I just sent Part 1 to my sweetie to see what she thinks first… Wish me luck! I will see you in the WP world. Diana is a Peach (full pun inttended).

        Like

Comments are closed.