A friend who often calls during his commute was musing about grouchiness. He and his wife are stressed about jobs, and finances, and those pressures have morphed into them being snippy. As he heard himself explain the backstory to me, he seemed to see it more objectively. The circumstances he was dealing with were not excuses, but they were reasons. It was not for me to make a judgment about being cheerful when he was bumping up against the limits of his own endurance. When he arrived where he was headed he seemed to have let some of those emotions fly out the back window of the car. 

Even Snow White had friends who were Grumpy and Sleepy. Happy had his place at the table too, as did Doc, but the story we are all living is richer than simply whistling while we work. 

The other day I joined my own seven companions around a table and when someone asked how I was I decided not to euphemize. 

"Grumpy." There was an awkward silence until conversation started rolling again. My mother was not one of the "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" ilk, and we were not banished for feeling out of sorts. Maybe isolation works for some folks, but I found comfort in being with others.