Happiness is…
Lists are fun. Well, most are. I always make grocery lists and I make them the old- fashioned way with a pen and paper.
I don’t put them on my phone. I make Christmas lists, vacation lists, what needs to be brought and such, even daily duties lists. My father made lists. I found some of them in a box after he passed away.. He had birthday lists of family and friends.
He even had my columns in order of the date written. I never knew he did that. My mother didn’t even know.
The older I’ve gotten, the more lists I make. I have learned that thinking I will remember something just doesn’t work anymore and usually it’s the very item I need that I forget.
I’ll bet some of you are nodding your heads as you read this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come back from a store that I had gone to for a specific item and come back without it. This isn’t because I’m old now. I’ve always been this way.
How many of you go to a room in your house to get something and forget what you came for in the first place? You stand there feeling goofy, go back to the room you came out of, and immediately remember what you needed. This just totally frustrates me because
I’m wasting time trying to remember. I’ve come up with a list of things in different categories that do specific things in my life, some good, some not so good. First off — Things that make me happy: 1. My grandchildren
2. Hearing Bruce Springsteen sing his rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” 3. Christmas lights 4. A new pair of jeans that fit. 5. My fur babies cuddled all around me on the couch
6. My husband’s smile
7. My children’s visits along with their children
8. Hallmark Christmas movies. I know. They all have the same plot. A woman comes home to her childhood small town. She runs into an old boyfriend. They begin to strike up a renewed relationship. There’s a conflict. Said woman leaves. Maybe gets caught in a snowbank. Old flame rescues her. She forgives him for whatever and they live happily ever after. We need positive stuff happening no matter how hokey. Give me a Hallmark movie anytime.
9. Hearing children’s laughter. It’s magical. 10. Making and decorating Christmas cookies with my grandchildren
11. Sitting on a beach with waves lapping at my feet watching porpoises leaping close by.
12. Walking on my new concrete driveway. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
13. Reading a really good book that I can’t put down. That’s why I haven’t started reading Diana Gabaldon’s Tell the Bees that I Am Gone. I need to finish up Christmas decorating and my Christmas present list first.
14. Watching Outlander, the series on STARZ, I’ve recorded over and over. It gives me peace for some reason.
15. Having my left eye cataract surgery done. My right eye is close to 20/20 vision since I had the initial surgery. My left eye is probably 20/80+. It’s terrible. By the time you read this, Dr. Ahn will have fixed it!!
16. Losing two of the five pounds I am working toward losing.
17. Knowing more and more people are doing the right thing and getting their vaccine shots It’s just a must these days.
18. Eating ice cream.
19. Running into an old friend I haven’t seen in a while.
20. Having a neat and clean house. Now, here’s some things that make me unhappy:
21. Rude and mean people
22. Dishonest people
23. Ornery people
24. Holier than thou people
25. People who throw garbage out their car windows including cigarette butts.
Hmmm … It seems that certain types of people irritate me. I guess that’s why I don’t get out much these days.
We live in a screwy world these days. I mean, I’m not happy about Georgia losing to Alabama, but I look at the bright side. Heavens! That 2021 Georgia team gave us UGA fans a fantastic season, a perfect season. Their loss did not make me angry, devastated or terribly disappointed. I’m looking forward to the playoffs and hoping UGA get a rematch for the national championship against Alabama.
I think this is what true happiness is about … looking forward to something positive. I try not to dwell on the negative. It just doesn’t make me happy.