Stream of Happiness

         

TONI ASKS, "WRITE IN A STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY.  ONLY WRITE ABOUT THINGS / SENSATIONS / EXPERIENCES."

Wow, it's been a while since I've written in stream of consciousness.  I have an overdeveloped sense of self-censorship.  All that worrying about if people will like it or hate it.  But that's not the purpose of this exercise.

Ok.  Things that make me happy.  Cotton candy, baklava, cheesecake, my children, my husband, owning a home (finally...after 52 years).  And it's my husband's paternal grandparents' home.  His Papaw passed in 1997 (I think) and his Mamaw passed last year.  Not only did we get to keep the land and house in the family, it provided a nice chunk of change for the remaining children (my FIL and his two brothers).  I am fully aware that if it were not for the sale of my mother's house, we would not have been able to pay cash for the place and would still be renting.  My goal now is to be worthy of that blessing.

I like acting on the stage.  At the end of my first year of college, I was told that I should find something else to do because I would never 'make it' in theatre.  OUCH!  Well, the person I was back then ... it was probably true.  So I switched my major to business, which pleased my mother to no end.  But it didn't make my heart sing.

I dropped out of college after the 2nd year and held a variety of jobs for the ensuing decade.  Each time I got a job, my mother would call her brother and the next time he would come out to visit, he would tell me I could do better than I was doing.  Ok.  The pizza restaurant, maybe.  But the International Department of a multi-state bank?  Really?

So I went back to college.  While there, I saw a notice for an audition for "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde.  I had to force myself to go, because I was still dealing with the feeling of failure from ten years earlier.  But I got a part.  Three days before the opening, the director did not show to the rehearsal.  So, the actors sat around (as we could not get into the rehearsal space) and had a line-through, with Southern accents.  And cousin Earnest was not taken off in Paris by a chill, but died in N'awlins of syphillis.  OMG, I have rarely laughed that much in my life!  Unfortunately, the director had done too much of a certain chemical substance and was in the hospital..  But other professors came together and somehow the show did go on.

Wow...this is getting long.  I better wrap up soon.   A good book makes me happy.  The last one I read was good, "Paper Roses" by Amanda Cabot.  Cuddly puppies and kittens and other furry critters.  Travel, Learning a new language.  A nice day out with the family.  Creating something - whether with words, polymer clay, wood, or any other number of media.

I reckon that'll do for now.

So, could you comment with one-three things that make you happy, off the top of your head?  I'd really, really, REALLY appreciate it! :O)