Things That Make Me Happy

I'm not gonna lie-- the last month or so has been insanely stressful for our family (heck, the last 10 months haven't exactly been a picnic....) And there were some moments where I thought the chaos would drown us. But I am very happy to report that things seem to be moving (slowly) in a generally good direction (though not without bumps in the road). I've been doing these happiness posts to try to remind myself to focus on the positive things. I know I haven't done one in a while, so I guess we're due...



Things That Are Making Me Happy:

• Kev started at an IT consulting job a couple of weeks ago. Hurray! The contract is to provide professional services to a huge financial services industry place, that is actually likely to be around for the long term. It's more corporate than he's used to, but so far, he's doing well there, and seems to like the people, and vice versa. It's in lower Manhattan, where he first started working many years ago, so it's like revisiting the old neighborhood for him.
  
  
  
  
• Mikro's ailing grandparent has gone from being in hospice care, to a rehabilitation facility, to on the brink of being able to go home. Hopefully some of the stress that has been hanging over our family will start to dissipate now!
  
• Old friends who have been there for us through it all. I don't know how we would have gotten through the past year without three of our oldest friends, who were there to lend an ear, distract us with more happy pursuits, and just be there without judging us in our less than finest moments. Thank you, D, C and V. You made it bearable.
  
• Walks along the river.
  
  
  
  
• Making music, writing songs, listening to old favorites and singing along. Having the Clearwater Festival to look forward to in June.
  
• The beautiful spring weather we're having. The birds are back, flowers are popping out in the garden, and it feels so good to go outside and bask in the sun, like a lizard under a heat lamp.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Making art alone and with Mikro. Painting, pottery, drawing, and cartooning in somewhat bad taste have all helped keep me sane and brought me comfort through some horrendous stress. Watching Mikro enjoy creating paintings, drawings, paper puppets with articulated limbs, and lots of LEGO critters has been a joy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Books. I've read some really interesting stuff lately, about music and the brain, the nature of happiness, and some fairly dark fantasy featuring musical themes. All useful distractions, and food for thought.
  
• Writing. Poetry, lyrics, journaling, blogging and occasionally editing the beginnings of my mystery novel all helped.
  
• The deliberate choice to ferret out and latch onto the few good things among the whirlwind of bad, and to keep trying to work things out, even when giving up or falling apart would have been so much easier. I've certainly known since my accident that everything can go horribly wrong in a heartbeat, and often that is a very overwhelming feeling. But I'm learning to fight it. So while all of this has been painful, I guess it has prompted some growth. I'm proud of the fact that Kev and I have faced it all together, and looking forward to us coming out on the other side of it stronger for weathering the storm.