The new Polly

2009 was a very tough year for the typically optimistic Pollyanna. Silver linings in black clouds were elusive. Her Uplift Tea simply put her to sleep and she all but stopped saying things like “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” … and “This too shall pass” … and “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

She realized that the light at the end of the tunnel was fading for too many people and that despite what she’d been saying for years, hope was not always on the horizon. All the things she once believed in now felt like a little crockpot of crap.

To make matters worse, Polly was one of 100 Pollyannas charged with spreading hope and optimism in her increasingly large region, and 70 of her co-Pollyannas were terminated this year, their positions simply eliminated. Each received a pretty little pink slip that read: Every time one door closes, another one opens.

Now Pollyanna had three times her normal workload, but with no extra pay and clients who were sadder and more hopeless than ever. Pollyanna, who’d always prided herself on her work, could no longer do such a shiny knock-up job of providing hope. She no longer had the time or resources to customize individual hope plans and secretly inject them into people’s dreary little lives.

Now her support to the masses has been dwindled down to the one line she feels covers everything across the board. Her new advice: "Just find whatever little glimmer of hope you can and hang onto it as tightly as you can, for as long as humanly possible. Then hope with all of your might for the very best." There are no more charming or clever tricks in her little bag. That's all she's got left.

Happy 2010. Now do like Polly says and go forth and search for your glimmer. Don’t forget to hang on and hope for the best. Hope with all your little might. Hang on tight.

Tiles are typically put on the streets to be found, or in other relatively public places, but Polly's had an extraordinarily rough year, so I dropped her in a place where I knew she'd be warmly welcomed ... at a close friend's mom's house. She's not just any mom. She's a card shark who will beat the pants off anyone in rummy. She'll act like she doesn't know how to play, saying something like ... "Hey, those twos are worth 20 points right???" and then turn around and beat the heck out of ya, while playing the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the background. BTW, she does a mean pirouette to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Let's just say she knows her Radetzky March from her Blue Danube, ya know what I mean? She knows her German chocolates too, and is reportedly the Rummikub Queen. That's right, she will put you to shame.

So we think Pollyanna's on the right path, because Rummikub Queen is probably going to teach her how to play Rummikub ... a nickel a point, and then Polly won't have to work so hard all of the time, and maybe she'll have more time to dream up a hope plan for others, like us.