Happiness is Tooth Fairy Anticipation

Today's happiness came from watching a giddy first grader with a gaping hole of four missing front teeth spending an entire afternoon crafting a letter and a homemade envelope for the tooth fairy.  The anticipation was so great that cute daughter came out of bed about every 10  minutes to inform me that the tooth fairy hadn't come quite yet.  Thank goodness she did make an appearance sometime during the night!

Happiness is true compassion

The other day I attended one of my 8 year old grandson's baseball games.  He has played baseball for a few years and enjoys the game, but this year he is on a team where his coaches seem to have the "win at all costs" mentality instead of the desire to build baseball and life skills with these young boys.  They seem to think that harsh words and loud voices will bring out the best in their struggling prodigies instead of providing sound instruction and building confidence.  During one particular play when my grandson's team was in the outfield, a ball was hit which took a mean bounce and hit one of my grandson's teammates in the leg and he immediately fell to the ground writhing in pain.  Meanwhile, the errant ball rolled over to where my grandson was standing and he picked it up while walking towards his wounded teammate.  Despite the commotion in the outfield, the two base runners continued to progress towards home plate as my grandson's coaches screamed at him to throw the ball to get the players out.  I can't express the overwhelming feeling of pride that came over me as I watched this young boy not even waiver as his whole focus was no longer on the game, but on his friend who was lying on the field.  I know that the sports mentality of the day is on competing and winning no matter what, but I was so grateful that this sweet little 8 year old taught me a greater life lesson on caring, compassion and priorities.

Happiness in a preschooler's mite

Our neighborhood has a great system for collecting wedding money for newlyweds from our little corner of the city.  A very kind and efficient coordinator pools money from anyone who wants to contribute and is able to purchase a larger and more useful gift than we could purchase individually.  This morning I realized the deadline was approaching for a couple of weddings, and I mentioned to my three year old son that we needed to take some money over to this neighbor and then we would be headed to the grocery store.  A minute later he emerged from his room holding a box with his treasure, a Chuck-E-Cheese token, a dollar coin gifted from a St. Patrick's day leprechaun, and a few pennies found in the street.  I assumed he wanted to buy himself a treat at the grocery store.  But as we walked to the neighbor's house and I handed her a check, my sweet little boy held out his offering as well.  I quickly tried to correct the mistake and told him that he didn't need to hand over his money, but his chin started to quiver and he innocently looked up at me and said, "But you told me she needed money."  My wise neighbor quickly took the offering, thanked him for his kindness, and handed it back to me when he wasn't watching.  My little boy stepped off that porch with a happy spring in his step as I followed, grateful for the lesson learned from a preschooler's mite.

My happiness bloomed

Yesterday morning I was standing on my front porch, taking a momentary break from my yard work and long Saturday to-do list to look out at the neighborhood.  As is the case on every beautiful Saturday morning in May, the street was bustling with a flurry of lawn mowing, weed pulling, tree trimming, kid playing and errand running.  I glanced across the way and noticed my sweet older neighbor situating herself on the sidewalk in front of her house, just beginning the task of planting her front flowerbed.  I could tell she was uncomfortable on the hard cement as the rhythm of dig, shift, dig, shift continued during the minute I watched her.  I almost let the moment slide, intent on finishing my own set of chores, when I felt the prick of my conscience tell me to cross the street with a trowel in my hand.  I approached her and told her I had a set of hands to add to hers, and side by side, together, we had that flowerbed planted in no time.  Yesterday my happiness bloomed in a flower garden.

My neighbor's house from my front porch

Happy Pictures

When I moved out East, I thought the spring season was going to be magical in bloom with color and aroma.  Much to my dismay, not one house had spring flowers or flower-blooming trees in the area that I lived.  Knowing how disappointed I was, Husband bought me tulip bulbs for my anniversary gift last year and I worked on digging and planting for the first time in my life.  I could hardly wait for the weather to warm.  Once we saw one green leaf peeking out, Kids and I checked every single day on the plants' progress until they all decided to open their petals.

Needless to say, this is my happy.

Happy MUSIC

The majority of my favorite music or songs could fit into two categories: 1) Acoustic (think Ingrid Michaelson) and 2) Happy Cheesy Pop.  Yes, Happy Cheesy Pop is my kind of genre.  I love having music that makes me want to roll down the car window to feel the cool breeze, to jump out of bed to start a new day, or to start an impromptu dance party with the kids.

Be Okay by Oh Honey (attached is the Glee version) made me do just that.  I can't help but feel happy when I listen to it.

Today my happiness is PERSEVERANCE

Husband is having some problems with his job that have been slightly discouraging.  I have had thoughts like, "He has worked so hard, why is this happening?" and "This just isn't fair."  But I read a thought from an article today that changed my attitude about it.

"To persevere means to maintain the ability to endure, to carry on, to continue in the same state without weakening or perishing.  It is being able to go on in the face of pain, oppression, discouragement or suffering without being defeated."

I didn't even know that what I needed was perseverance until I read it.  But it had so much truth behind it that it filled me up and made me feel peace about his job for the first time in months.  We are always going to have times of fear, failure, frustration, and discouragement because life isn't always fair or easy.  It doesn't matter how hard we work or how good we try to be - those things will still happen.  But it's how we handle them and "carry on" despite the difficulties that define us.  I like to feel strong, and I decided after I read that statement that I didn't want Husband or myself to be defeated.  I still could feel like things weren't ideal, but I didn't have to let that bleed into other aspects of my/our life, nor did that mean that Husband would be stopped from reaching his full potential in his career.

The knowledge that I could stay strong and carry on through discouragements helped me feel happy.