Five Happy Things

Five Happy Things

I very much appreciate and enjoy the focus that looking for life's small and not-so-small happy things brings to my daily life - so here we go:

Five Happy Things

1) A perfect kayaking day. My girlfriend, who is ahead of me in the photo below, and I meet to go kayaking once each month. Our most recent get together was this past Monday, when the weather was gorgeous, the winds calm, and the current in our favor. We are both deeply appreciative that we prioritize our monthly get togethers, as you never know what nature is going to deliver.  This time (thank you!), it delivered perfection.

2)  We pulled out at the halfway point on Monday, in search of coffee. As we walked down Marine Avenue, on Balboa Island where we'd stopped, we passed display after display celebrating the upcoming 4th of July holiday, and this one in particular caught me eye. Not only did I love the curated display of pillows, I had to laugh at the less-than-friendly call-out the store owner had had printed at the bottom of the chair.  

3)  These beautiful hydrangeas that a neighbor gave to me as a 'thank you' for our recent wine tasting event. I've been happily enjoying them for days.

4)  Finding this on the Lucky Day table at our library last week. The Lucky Day table in our library is where one copy of extremely popular books are sometimes placed for same day checkout.  Sometimes you walk in and, lucky day, a copy of a book with an otherwise very long wait list is available for immediate checkout.

I read this nonstop in pretty much three days, and have already returned it to the library to be enjoyed by some other lucky reader.

I learned so much about the Vietnam War, in that I was just a child while it was occurring. And so much about the sacrifices of the men and women involved.

5)  Walking randomly into this surf board shop while searching for coffee one afternoon. I myself never did more than boogie boarding while growing up in California, but since moving here to coastal S. Orange County eight years ago, I have become acutely aware of the history and overall beauty of surfing, and I love that it's such a big part of the culture here.

Last summer while visiting us here, I gifted my older granddaughter with a one hour private surfing lesson, and she fell in love - 'Nana, I did it!' So we will see if it takes over time, and we end up with our first official family surfer.

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What's made you happy recently? Please share!