Happiness is…

Usually my “Happiness is…” posts include one thing I’m happy about along with a picture. But I’ve noticed (yet again) that I’ve really been focusing on the dark, not-so-pleasant things again lately.

As an antidote for that, I’ve decided to blog tonight about all of the things that I’ve felt happy about in the past few days.

• The spring-like weather, and my daughter’s exclamation this morning: “Mommy! It’s sunny! It’s real spring, not fake spring!”
• My son’s delight at holding worms in his hand. Part of the ritual is him taking me by the hand and leading me to the garden, where he signs “more,” points at the garden, then says “no,” shakes his head, and signs “eat,” indicating that he’s not going to eat the worms that he wants me to put in his hand.
• The pleasure my daughter takes in sounding out three- and four-syllable words.
• The way my son asks where something is: he signs, “where?” then shrugs his shoulders and says, “Go?” About half the time he actually indicates what he’s looking for, as in, “Mommy go?” or “Turtle go?”
• The smell of the white and pink blossoms on the trees. I imagine them to be apple and cherry blossoms, but I’d be surprised if there were that many apple and cherry trees in the parking strips in town.
• The sudden green-ness of the whole valley, all the more sweet because I know it’s going to be short-lived. Once hot weather hits, we’ll go back to looking more like the desert that we are.
• Cuddling and reading with my daughter while the white noise from my bedroom purrs through baby monitor, reassuring me that the baby is asleep (for now).
• Homemade bread, even though I can’t eat it because it’s wheat.
• The smell of freshly cut grass and the presence of the babysitter so I can mow relatively undisturbed by my children.
• The enthusiastic cry of “Cod!” from my children in answer to my query, “Which would you like for dinner tonight, pizza or cod?”

It’s always surprising to me how hard I have to work to remind myself to see the pleasant things in my life. There are so many, and yet some days, I can’t see any of them.

I wonder, do I feel happier because I notice these things, or do I notice them because I feel happier?