I won’t lie: I’ve been trying really hard to improve my attitude. But with the incessant rain and the fact that a certain professional ball club starts up a week from today without me involved, it’s been hard.

But I decided to mow my lawn today, a really therapeutic task for me. So, donning my headphones, and listening to the Best of Al Jarreau on the mp3 feature of my cell phone, I strode onto our new lawn.

The sun came out right afterward—probably due to my entrance onto the yard. I set the cutting height up a couple notches so as not to hurt the new growth, and off I went.

“Agua de Beber” was the song that really got me. I memorized the Spanish a long time ago, and it was still fresh. And the sun was shining!, so I launched into its first verse. Driving rhythm, driving lawn mower, happier guy, getting out of his doldrums—what could be better than that?

As I rounded the corner, a mother and her 9-year-old son stopped just beyond our fence to stare quizzically at me. I waved (what a beautiful day!), but they didn’t wave back. Well, unless you call pointing to one’s ear and making a funny circular motion a wave.

My audience grew by two, a master and his dog, and the four members of my audience had a conversation, pointing and laughing. Didn’t they know how long I had been in a funk? No, probably not.

Making a route around the lawn and returning to where I first saw these folks, Al launched into “Mornin’,” and I took his lead, singing and dancing as much as the mower allowed me to shimmy and shake. They all shook their heads and moved onto their next scene.

Nothing like a few rays of sunshine, a little Al, and a little audience to lift a person.

“Need I tell you that everything here is just fine …”