50 Things To Be Happy About

1. Today is my birthday!

2. I am not 50!

3. I have two more years to “get it right.”

4. I have an awesome family

5. That I love very Very much!

6. I have a lot of amazing friends

7. Online and offline

8. Who inspire me to be better everyday

9. I have amazing parents

10. Who are still alive and support me

11. And called me today to sing to me (I love it!)

12. I have one best friend outside my bloodline that

13. Is my sister in every way that matters.

14. I have five brothers

15. Two are waiting for me in heaven

16. And I believe that!

17. I love and admire my oldest brother and who he is.

18. I love my younger brother who is also my writing partner, business associate and

19. One of my very best friends.

20. I love my “baby” brother, who makes me laugh

21. All. The. Time.

22. And I admire who he is and his opinions.

23. I love my husband.

24. He is also my best friend and

25. Favorite person to spend time with.

26. He makes me want to be better.

27. I have two beautiful daughters (and I’m not just saying that).

28. My oldest daughter is valiant, hard working and

29. I don’t worry about her decisions

30. Even though I do worry about her (of course!)

31. Daughter #2 is fun and beautiful and

32. I’m happy to have her around

33. She’s just fun.

34. My oldest son is a ROCK!

35. My middle son teaches me patience and makes me feel loved.

36. My baby is spoiled and I like spoiling him.

37. I love where I live

38. I like learning

39. I have hobbies I enjoy

40. I get vacations and “time off”

41. My birthday is the beginning of the holidays

42. I am a Christian

43. I am a Mormon

44. I get to stay home with my kids

45. I get to go to school

46. I get to work with my family doing what I love, Writing!

47. I believe in forgiveness, especially forgiving myself

48. Failure is a learning experience.

49. I have more time to keep being better

50. I’m old but I’m not that old.

Good things

I know I have a lot of good things in my life. I love my kids. They are a lot of work but they make me happy and whole. As I mentioned earlier this week, I don't think I'm the greatest mother in the world but I do love my kids. I want them to be happy, successful and fulfilled.

I love my husband. He is a good man. He makes me laugh, a lot. He works hard, harder than anyone I know, and is tenacious. He is a great example to me of someone that gets things done!

I have amazing parents, who are still married to each other. I love them dearly and don't like that they are getting old. I am getting old so, yeah, so are they. I don't like it. They are still very active and very much a part of our lives and I am so grateful for that.

I love my brothers. Even though I don't talk to them as much as I probably should, or would like to, I love them all. I worry about their families and want for them what I want for my own children; to be happy, successful, fulfilled.

I have good friends. Some at church, some not. My BFF, Gypsy, is my lifeline.

I love going to school and am grateful for that opportunity. I don't want to stop. Yeah, I'm a little nuts.

I have a good life. I am frustrated by things that could be easily fixed with money but money isn't everything. I think it provides freedom and that's the only Harrumph! I have about it. I could use a little more freedom. But it's not everything, I have a lot of freedom. I don't have to spend most of my day looking for food, preparing it and making sure my kids are fed, clothed and warm. Those things are easy.

I am grateful for God in my life. I love God and have had a relationship since I was young, before I even really had a clear concept of who God was. I was born that way.

Today is a good day and I have gratitude.

A few highlights:

• Superman "gets" to work at Catalina today. Jerk. That means I don't have to make dinner, it's YOYO! (You're On Your Own)
• I have five papers to write for my last class before student teaching. They're due before Saturday. Yes I procrastinated. Yes I'm still procrastinating. ::sigh::
• The puppy isn't making me crazy so much anymore. Thank goodness for the crate!
• All the kids are home now, school is over. A blessing and a curse.

Why is Love All You Need?

Yes, it's Valentine's Day. A Hallmark Card moment to hit or miss... AKA Single Awareness Day (SAD, really?) to which we owe some Priest back in the middle ages for intervening in behalf of true love and sappy soldiers. Thanks Mr.V. 

I have never been a huge fan of V-day. Until I got married I only had one time in my life when I actually had a Valentine and that was/is an ...awkward memory now. [insert hysterical laughter]

But Love? I am a huge fan of Love and have delved into the mystery of that nonsense several times, once was permanent and pretty much it for me. But why? What's the deal with this emotional crap anyway? 

Well, I'm glad you asked friend, glad you asked...

1. Love is the ultimate motivator.
People rob, steal, kill, jump through fiery hoops, swim through shark-infested waters, etc. etc. for Love. What  the ...? Why bother? Well, apparently without love we would die, for one. Babies without physical love die. Also, it feels good. 

So they say...which leads to another nice thing about love...

2. Love enhances physical intimacy.
That's a nice way to say it, right? Basically we like how love makes us feel both emotionally AND physically. Which is a good thing to perpetuate the species. 

3. We feel validated as a human.
I am not exactly sure why this is true, but I know it is true. (Hey, I'm a LIT major not a PSYCH major!) Also, the emotion of love is universal. In some cases the lack of love (maternal/paternal) can cause such deep emotional scarring that some poor souls never recover (Hello Mr. Serial Killer), also rejection from someone we believe we love, or that we believe loves us can be so traumatically scarring the accepting real love is difficult. 

The truth is that most of us are more loved than we are aware. There are some that you may not know that love you and care for your well-being and you don't even know about it; the tree-hugging, animal-rescuing, Do-Gooding types. I like those people because generally you can count on them when the chips are down. Really, they love you. Maybe not in the I-want-to-hug-you-and-kiss-you-and-perpetuate-the-species-with-you; aka Romantic kind of way but it's love and it does count for something. Yes it does, stop arguing!

4. Love means we aren't alone and we aren't lonely.
Except, of course, that's not completely true. Actually the worst kind of relationship to be in is one where you feel lonely but you are not alone. Now is when we talk about self-love, no not that kind, but believing in yourself and believing in your own values regardless of what others do. 

I think people believe this Love-Lie and that worries me. Being alone is not the worst thing in the world. Being lonely just might be, however. Going with the Beatles theme I'm going to mention "Eleanor Rigby" here... All the lonely people, where do they all come from... All the lonely people, where do they all belong? The song mentions people who are alone but that doesn't mean they are lonely. It's assumed. However, there are millions around us that do feel lonely either because they are alone or because they are lonely. They are not the same. 

5. Love is not the same in every language.

English is my native language and we have a very poor vocabulary for the feeling of Love. It is difficult to put emotions into words but I found a few fun ones...

Retrouvailles (French) — Literally translated as "rediscovery," retrouvailles is the happiness of reuniting with someone after a long separation.

Onsra (Boro language of India) — There are several ways to love in Boro, and onsra, or the bittersweet "to love for the last time."

Kokoro kara (Japanese) — "from the heart" but that translation doesn't do justice because in Japan your "kokoro" is your inner being. It is akin to loving with your "whole soul."


I hope that on this day that celebrates romantic love that everyone feels loved in some way. I am a bit bothered  by a "holiday" that celebrates "coupleness" when really, "Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you... in time - It's easy. All you need is love, all you need is love..."