happy - week 2

Yes indeedy, I'm still rocking the happy at #100happydays!

That's little Jonni, isn't she adorable? I think I was somewhere around 3 in this pic. The little duckies are ones that I "bought" for my mother at that age for Mothers Day at the local Walgreens although I didn't even get an allowance at that age so I'm pretty sure my dad contributed the money but apparently I picked them out all by myself. This picture was taken last Sunday when I visited my mother in her assisted living apartment. She's 97 although she tells everybody she's only 92. She's quite with it for a 97 year old although I can see a big decline from this time last year. Her lack of connection with everyday life makes it both harder and easier on me.

This has always been a guiding principle in my life and I tried very hard to instill this in Taz because he was more of an "eye on the prize" kind of guy. I tried to put happy times in all of our days even the very difficult ones. Nowadays I admit that I need to be reminded of this from time to time too, not because I am focused on a goal but I'm more inclined to just put my head down and shuffle through this part of my life. So I was pleased to look down at my desk calendar and see these words last Monday. There *is* joy in the journey but we have to be open to it.

One of my favorite quotes, from Anne of Green Gables, is "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." This is my favorite month of the year, I used to love the change of seasons in Virginia and October in coastal California is amazing because you finally get the warm temperatures everyone else has had all summer. October in Florida isn't too shabby either because eventually, at some point, any day now, the summer heat and humidity are going to break and I'll walk outside one morning to find chilly air. I can't wait!

I went into the beginning of last week feeling a little (a lot) unloved and forgotten. But then stuff happened that snapped me out of it - I received gifts from 2 different people that proved they'd been reading what I posted on Facebook and they saw a need that they could help with. I love both of these people so much and I would love them to bits even if they hadn't done this but I can't even describe how much it lifted my spirits to know they were doing more than just *thinking* about me and being there with me in spirit.

I had been looking forward to this day ever since I was invited back in March. A group of us went to Universal Studios to celebrate the 11th birthday of my bff! She didn't know I was coming, we kept it a surprise even though she'd expressed - on several occasions both to me and her parents - her wish that I could join the outing. I will never forget the look on her face when she saw me (and 2 others she hadn't known were coming) and ran to give me a big hug. That made my day, my week and my year. We had the best day (even getting stuck for a couple of hours in the queue for a ride that broke down) and I will relive those memories over and over again. 

We did all the Harry Potter stuff and she got her wand in a ceremony that brought tears to my eyes. She is a year younger than my child would have been so I often think that I've been given a chance to have a little piece of that experience. With her blond hair and green eyes she's a little bit of a mini-me.

I needed a day off to recover from my day off! I took Friday off work to just sit around the pool and read; it was heaven!! It's probably good that I'm forced to work to keep a roof over my head because, if not, I would probably waste my life just sitting outside and reading. But what a way to waste a life!

Charlie is my #365happydays. She makes me happy every single day and I am so grateful for her. She's funny and sassy but she also can nap with the best of them so it's very restful to have her around. We're best buddies. I am alone a lot except, thanks to Charlie, I'm never really alone.

So that's my 2nd happy week. Stay tuned for next week. I've got the perfect storm of work deadlines and disconnected TV and Internet coming up so I'm going to have to work extra hard to find the happy but I'm up to the challenge...maybe...probably...who knows?