Today I got to spend the day doing errand type things with dad. Normal things like a trip into the mall to get his hair cut. Then over to the bank to pay taxes.
This afternoon we drove the back road into Cochrane to pick up the kids and for him to have an appointment. Driving the hay valley at the beginning of spring is always beautiful, but it was extra special to share it with him. Just doing regular things and visiting and enjoying each other’s company. Happiness moment with my dad
Today was a day that in many ways felt like life really had handed me lemons. This afternoon while I was at the grocery store thinking about my lemon day, I looked down and there was this lemon cake. I figured what the heck, when life hands me lemons darn it I’m going to eat lemon cake. It was delicious by the way.
I have sometimes wondered how my exit from this world will be. I hope at the very least it’s somewhat dignified. It probably won’t be. But one can hope.
Today when I was driving my kids home from school I had a little preview of what that could be like. Trust me it was not dignified at all.
We were driving on the highway following some other cars when suddenly a very large gravel truck with an extra trailer pulled out from a side road and started making a left hand turn across the two lane highway and in front of us
I was doing 100 km/hour and suddenly there was a monster of a truck just a few feet away from us and moving in our direction. I hit the brakes and the horn as we skidded/flew across our lane and onto the shoulder I screamed FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU – well you know the rest – as loudly as I could. Either the horn or my swearing caught the attention of the truck driver and he stopped – blocking all oncoming traffic. Thank goodness no one was coming right at the moment. We were somewhere between 2-4 feet from the front of the truck when he stopped.
So while my motto has always kind of been this:
Apparently it’s more likely that I will slide in screaming the F bomb. My poor children.
I took away several things from this moment.
1. My guardian angel works hard and probably falls into bed exhausted at night.
2. My life has been saved several times by my being behind the wheel of a Volvo.
3. I should always take backroads.
4. Sometimes when life seems to be all lemony it’s not really so much so. That living in the moment thing. Sometimes the moments are good and sometimes they’re not so good. But they are moments and there is something to be gained from each one of them.
My happiness moment today was that I got to spend most of the day with my parents and my sister. While it was a day that seemed to want to hand us lemons we did our best to make lemon cake. In fact we ate that lemon cake together tonight before my sister headed back home.
Happiness is those small moments with the people you love.
Today my mom, my dad, and I went out in the field to search for crocuses. After searching and searching we were unable to find any. Bummer. But along with some buffalo beans, I did find this buttercup along the ridge. Spring. It’s finally happening. Actually today may have been summer as it was 27C and wonderfully sunny.
My happiness moment of the day was wandering the field with my parents. It was so wonderful to see dad out all excited in search of the hiding crocuses. May the joyful feelings of spring give dad lots of love and strength.
It’s a double post today. This is the one I had planned before the after school incident took place.
I was thinking today how awesomely lucky we are with our daily commute to school. This is the traffic jam I was in on my way to pick up the kids: 
And this is the view on the way home:
It was so awesome that Jenna had to get out and do her holding the world in her hands picture
Happiness drive. Happiness moment
My happiness moment today was a family drive out on the ranch. My parents, my kids, my sister, her kids. All together. It was a really special and fun time. We are so blessed to be able to all spend time together.
Today was a double happiness moment First of all the kids and I were invited by my extremely patient cousin to go help (and I use that word loosely) chase cows. Mostly we just sat and watched and then walked around on the horses. But since horses are my most favorite thing on the planet and it was the first time my kids were riding out by themselves on the ranch it most certainly was a huge moment of blissful happiness.
When I was pregnant with Jacob we were part of a birthing and babies class. For the first year or so after they were born, our group would get together once a week for a play date. I became good friends during that time with one of the moms. I hadn’t seen her in at least 10 years though – ever since we moved away. Well tonight she had us and one other family from the group over for supper. We had a fantastic night eating supper, catching up on 10 years, watching our kids play, playing board games and laughing ourselves silly, and watching the Flames win (Go Flames Go). An extra special happiness moment and something we have missed out on for years. Just getting together with friends.
As one more special treat, my sister and her kids are down for the weekend so we get special family time too.
It was a blissful happiness day.
Jacob came home and said if we still lived in Roanoke I would be in school until 3:30. Instead now I finish at 2:30 and I get two recesses every day!!
And I think that he’s right on by being excited. He used to get dropped off and go into school and not come outside again until the day was over. Now they have a morning recess and then one again at lunch time. You’re never too old for recess.
I get stories every day now about what he’s doing at school and most of those stories happen at recess. It makes him bright and alive (full of ojas) when he’s talking about being outside with his friends.
PLUS he gets to go to school camp this year!
Happiness moment is the joy of hearing about the fun the kids have at recess. We should all take a recess every day and go outside and play for a half hour.
I spend my recess on my walk or standing at the corral talking to the horses
This afternoon my cousin helped me out and brought my kids home from school. I’m lucky because this cousin – M – her kids go to the same school as mine. Which made being the new kids (and the new mom) so much less scary because there were familiar faces this time.
I returned home from my meeting to see her kids and my kids and her sister’s kids all playing outside. What a wonderful sight!
M and I are only 4 months apart and spent most of our childhood running that same yard – having adventures, getting into trouble, climbing trees… You name it.
When I moved away my kids were 4 years and 5 months old. Her kids weren’t born yet. So they haven’t grown up knowing us adults or each other. I feel so blessed that I am now getting the opportunity to get to know her family better and on an everyday basis (instead of as a visitor).
Happiness moment for the day was watching those kids run up and down the field laughing and screaming while we stood out there and visited.
Family ties.
Two happiness moments for the day
My dad is home from the hospital. So wonderful to have him back where he belongs. Home is more complete now.
Went into AMA to see what I needed to do to switch my licence from Virginia to Alberta. When we moved to the states I had to take both the written and driving test. Nightmare. I’ve need driving legally for 30 years. I was terrified at the thought of having to do that yet again. Well, I don’t have to do the test again. Just fill out some paperwork. Happy and relieved.
When I was a kid I remember being packed in the Suburban with cousins flying up and down back roads at breakneck speeds. Once in a while we would find that magic road that had the right bumps in it that made me feel like I was losing my stomach when we would drive over it. Of course once we found that magic road we had to drive back up and down it a few times squealing with delight the entire way.
Today I had my kids and my cousin’s kids (the same cousin who used to do the driving on those magic roads) in my car and we were driving to drop off some recycling. As we drove past another relative’s driveway I told the kids of the magic road and how their mom/aunt had driven us up and down that road one afternoon while we giggled.
But I didn’t turn on that road, I kept driving. I got to where the gravel road meets the highway and drove under the overpass. As I did all four kids squealed and Jacob yelled I think my bladder just fell out a couple of seconds later it happened again. A magic road. We dropped off the recycling and flew over the bumps on the way back. When I got to the turn into the back road all four kids started yelling for me to do it again. So around we turned and flew back up and down the magic road.
Magic times. My happiness moment for the day.
