Happiness

I love all correspondence but there has always been, and always will be, a soft spot for "real" mail. A real handwritten note. A real book to hold and smell..... and oh, yeah... read! A highlight of my day is going to my mailbox to see if anything "fun" has arrived. I enjoy looking at the Costco coupons and magazine. I enjoy even junk mail flyers and coupons. I look forward to my magazines every month and it always delights me when I get a "real" note from a "real" friend. (such things are growing more sparse these days)

Ever since I signed up for a few blogger review programs, I'm even more excited to go out to the mailbox, anticipating a new book pretty much every week/every other week.

Today there was a package in my mailbox. I tore it open and was so happy to see a book! I love books! As I walked to school with my newly acquired hardback (free!) book.

Truly; it put a smile on my face! And I began thinking of things that made me happy: books, friends, internet, my computer, mail, email from friends, diet coke, gifts, kind words, going out to lunch with a friend, spending time with David, spending time with the kids, California poppies, my Bible, sorbet, ducklings, tulips, any color, chocolate chip cookies, bookstores and coffee shops, bakeries, vacations to warm places, watching my husband race, daisies, the smell of rosemary and wild lavender, frogs and lizards, black ink pens, picking fruit off trees, caterpillars and ladybugs, my church, how cute my kids look when they are asleep, the ocean, vast expanses of wild mustard flowers, newts, oak trees, the sound of rain, river or ocean waves crashing. I love to learn from others. I'm happy with a camera in my hand, and I am constantly trying to get a photo I LOVE. In my mind, there is a quest for the best, perfect photo. I've never attained it yet and I have a feeling I never will, which is why I never tire of taking more and more photos. I love looking at a wall of books on my shelves. Music makes me happy, especially seeing U2 in concert. I like being in my bike when the world is not yet quite awake. I love certain restaurants and certain food, and I always wonder why there are certain friends that I've known forever yet hardly ever see, yet when we finally get together it is like no time has ever passed and I wonder: Why don't I make more of an effort to be with them?

I could go on and on but as I listed just this small list, I realized that some things I enjoy but is my happiness contingent on these things?