The nature of happiness

I was reflecting, as I walked to work yesterday, on the nature of happiness. I'm a pretty happy person "by nature". I had started the day off taking some simple pleasures in interactions with my kids and daily tasks. My mom and I often talk about our general happy natures and the fact that, although our lives are not always just like we wish they would be, we choose to look on the sunny side of things. Well, most of the time anyway. It's not possible to always be up and happy. I also reflected on the fact that some days the bickering and drama of the morning get to me and I don't walk to work with a happy lilt in my step (although most days, being outside and walking the short distance to school puts me in a pretty good mood, even if I started out grumpy). Anyway, my day started out so happy because of a series of events that are kind of silly, but made me happy. First, Emma checked to see if I was ok when a bunch of things fell off the side of the tub when I was in the shower. Because most of my first morning interactions with her are to wake her up (when she doesn't really want to get up) it's not always so pleasant. But she was checking to see if I was ok and it was very sweet. Then I enjoyed shaving my legs, which seems pretty silly, but . . . I had new shaving cream which smelled really good (someone kidnapped my old shaving cream and I'm not naming names but the man of the house likes using my raspberry shaving cream and has been known to rip the label off and put on his own "He man shaving cream" label), I didn't cut my legs at all (which I never do anymore, thanks to shaving cream for women), and we all got off to school without bickering. The bickering did start as we walked into the school but I walked with the kids in front of us and ignored my own daughter's bickering :)

Tonight my mom and I went to the Crown Uptown for the dinner theater "Church Basement Ladies". It was so funny and such a fun evening with mom. It was my mother's day present to her. I think we'll do it again, maybe with the whole family. But it was fun for just the two of us to have a night out too.