Tag Archives: gratitude

happiness

Dueling Christmas carols

We started to put up Christmas in the house today. This was accompanied by Christmas carols played and sang loudly. My all time favourite is Mary’s Boy Child, and the boy’s is O Christmas Tree. So we each played ours at top volume and sang out hearts out.

I realized as I was putting up our advent calendar how many wonderful Christmas traditions we have. Most of our away years we came home for the holidays, so most of our traditions are rooted here at the ranch already. Tomorrow we will get our lights up, soon we will get our tree, Christmas music will play until Boxing Day.

I found a photo taken maybe 5 or 6 years ago – my kids are standing in front of our house here and they look like it’s their home. Except it would still be quite a few years before we returned home. None of us ever thought we would be living in this house we have come to love so dearly.

How funny is that. It’s like they were practicing for years to come. Home sweet home. This place has been a safe haven on our road to happiness.

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We are all just walking each other home

I’ve been feeling very disconnected lately. Disconnected from God, disconnected from my tribe, disconnected from myself. Knowing that is one thing, changing it is another. And really, since I’ve been kind of mad at God lately that’s where it all starts (and ends).

I sat today and had a conversation with God about how I was feeling like he’d abandoned me. I think we all feel like that sometimes. I said my peace and then got up to carry on with my day – which meant taking a shower.

As soon as I had a head full of shampoo the water pressure dropped and it was obvious I had only a few seconds until I had no water at all. I did my best to squeeze out the soap suds and was mostly successful by the time the water was completely gone.

Because we live in this crazy old house, nothing is simple. Our water comes from the well up the hill and provides for me, the barn, my cousin, and my mom. And it’s all been patched and repaired by generations of ranchers. So you really have to understand the system to make anything work. I have a very basic understanding of the system.

I called my cousin’s husband who ended up being out of town and he sent over my nephew to try and fix it. We went down the hill to the well and FaceTimed for assistance and figured out the problem (broken pipe). My nephew got one of the guys who works on the ranch and they went down and fixed it.

Then they came to our place to turn it on and there was an issue with the pump. It looked like we wouldn’t have water all night, but my cousin in law showed up this evening and magically solved the problem so we have water again. Hooray. Running water is a big deal.

As I was on the hill earlier today I realized how connected we really are, this tribe of mine. It helped me remember how important it is to belong to a group. How we all need each other to get through.

I had a really nice visit with my mom tonight, she was looking better than I’ve seen her in a while. There is a life long connection and one that will carry through the ages.

And so I work on repairing my connection to God. Because if we are all just walking each other home, he is home. And that is happiness.

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Transformational healing

One of my favourite healers is in town right now. My dear friend Asrael (also on the top of my list of favorite healers) introduced me to Michel a while ago and now every time he comes to town I’m first in line to see him.

He does transformational acupuncture and I don’t know how to properly explain it except it works miracles on me. I’m not even sure how I feel right now, it usually takes a few days or weeks to fully process all that goes on, but I can feel things have shifted. Things are shifting.

I need to stay focused on what is important. Mr. X and all the financial pressure he bullies us with has been weighing on my mind lately. I need to keep standing up for my kids, he needs to follow the court order, but it gets exhausting. He is not worth my effort, but my kids are so I have to find the balance there. I wish things were different, I wish it wasn’t so difficult, but this is how it is. Divorce from a narcissist. The gift that keeps on giving.

I need to keep sorting through those feelings, letting go as I can. I can’t wait until he’s just somebody that I used to know. And the more I work at releasing the pain of all those years, the closer I am to that happening. And that is happiness.

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Coco

My girl and I had a mother/daughter date night tonight and went and saw the movie Coco. It was fun and I really enjoyed some time with her.

Happiness comes from within, but I also find great joy and comfort in my tribe.

Please keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers. She’s one tough lady and her courage never ceases to amaze me, but we could all use some healing prayers.

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Compassionate healer

We have the best family doctor, we found her by chance and she’s not close to where we live, but I am so grateful she’s our doctor. She knows us all so well and is so caring and compassionate every time we go to see her. It makes us feel safe, cared for, and listened to.

The girl had to go see our doctor today and as usual it was such a positive experience. She expressed some teenage concerns and the doctor listened, not just listened but heard and was fully present in the moment. She made my girl feel important, cared for, and loved. That is a real gift. It’s happiness.

A bonus happiness moment is that we were feeling well enough today we could finally go visit mom again. It’s been a week since I got this cold/flu thing going on and I wasn’t able to go in and see her. Talk about an amazing lady with so much courage and strength.

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Today they curled

Today we went to small town Alberta and the kids participated in a very Canadian activity – they went curling. Somehow I have never curled before, but it sure looked like they were all having a lot of fun. Turns out this is an unexpected bonus of the kids joining 4H is they get to do cool things like this.

It was good to get out and laugh and have a little bit of fun. Happiness.

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The cat house

I woke up today and there was a cat sleeping outside everyone’s door. Apparently we have all been assigned cats and they guard us at night.

Aladdin is sitting close by me now waiting for bed. He won’t cuddle all day but at bed time o’clock he starts to come closer, and as soon as I go to bed he makes a nest between my feet and sleeps all night.

Therapy cats.

They sure have brought a lot of comfort and joy to this house

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