Livin’ the Life

When I was out walking this morning, I passed an older man headed in the opposite direction.  His companion was a large, shaggy dog and the man was a little shaggy too — plus I noticed when he got closer and smiled, that he had either forgotten to — or chosen not to — put his teeth in this morning.  He was moving along purposely and was obviously enjoying his walk.  When I got abreast of him, I uttered a slightly obligatory, “Hey, howya doin’?” and expected a minimal, polite response  Instead he grinned broadly and said, “Livin’ the life, baby, livin’ the life.”  I was delighted.  It didn’t appear to me that he was doing anything spectacular, just walking along what I saw as a pretty unexciting stretch of semi-rural road on a dog walk.  And yet, his take on the situation was anything but that and reminded me of an episode on the old Mary Tyler Moore show.  Mary came into the office one morning, feeling disheartened at every day’s sameness. She threw her coat on a chair and in a morose, is-this-all-there-is tone, said something like, “What’s the point. I got up. I had coffee. I ate breakfast. I drove to work.” Minutes later, Ted Baxter came into the office and proclaimed, “What a great day! I got up!  I had coffee!  I ate breakfast!  I drove to work!!”  Exactly the same thing, totally different tone of voice.  I think the man I met while I was out walking, is a good role model.  Next time someone asks me how I’m doing, my reply’s going to be, “Livin’ the life, baby.  Livin’ the life.”