Some days just stink. They are hard. They are lonely. When it happens I usually chalk it up to hormones; after all, I am that age. But it could be a hard day for any number of reasons: grey skies, being tired, a friend moving away, burning dinner, the Sooners losing a football game. (Smile) I’ve learned that when those days come around, (and they do) that I can make it through them a lot easier if I spend some time thinking about those I love and what makes me happy.
A few years ago I actually started keeping a list. I add to it often. It isn’t in any particular order…just the things I think about when I’m feeling blue.
Claudine’s HAPPY/LOVE List
- Jesus
- Kissing my husband. Okay, I know that is probably TMI.
We started young!
- My sweet son and his sweet wife.
- Girlfriends — those gals who know me well and love me anyway.
- A clean house. I do see this on rare occasions.
- Los Amigos — the local restaurant where I used to have lunch with those girlfriends who know me so well.
- Writing
- Christmas lights
- Christmas carols
- Praying
- Family get-togethers — especially a Henry family fish fry where we play “O Heck.”
- My “Other Family” Christmas
The girlfriends from my “other family.”
- Chili pie on a cold day
- The smell of an old dusty book
- Reading my Bible — in my bathrobe with a cup of peppermint tea.
- My peach-colored bathrobe — twenty years old and falling apart, but like an old friend.
- Luke and Laura — you have to have lived in the 80’s to appreciate this.
- Decorating Magazines
- Flowers on my porch
- Sitting in the dark in the sanctuary of my church with just the light from the stained glass windows.
- The parent prayer-circle in the end zone before the local high school football game.
- Vintage Dishes
I’ve been buying and selling (mainly buying) vintage dishware for years.
- Autumn — my favorite time of year.
- Sooner Football
- Silver Dollar City
- Mom’s roast — wish I could duplicate it, but at least the memory makes me feel at home.
- Sabrina’s loud laugh — my cousin who is already in heaven. Again, this should make me sad but it doesn’t.
Sabrina and I — laughing at things only cousins would understand.
What is on your happy/love list? Have you made one?
