Hello, girls! It's Monday!
Alexandra - I'm happy to hear that your marriage is going so well! And between you and me, "traditional" romance is overrated. I hope your honeymoon was lovely!
Carlyn - Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I remember those awkward adolescent dances . . . I wonder what Jerry is up to now . . .
Now, onto the topic of happiness!
So, if you Stumble around the internet long enough, you'll happen upon this quote:
"When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life."
Cheesy as it is, I've always like that quote. I'm a firm believer in the idea that a financially successful future and emotionally successful future are not the same thing. In other words, it's more important for me to find a way to do the things I love from day to day than it is to be paid well and make a lot of money, which is why I have a degree in theatre (though, you know, if it's possible to snag both, I'm gonna go for that option. Another quote you'll find on the internet is "Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable." Just saying).
But while happiness in the grand scheme of life is certainly a goal for my future, I've also learned to appreciate the fine art of being happy in the little things. My friend Meghan has had an ongoing project on Facebook for at least the past year that I really like. Her only status updates are the "Little Things" in life that make her happy at any given moment. She's on 384 or something like that, and those updates always bring a smile to my face. So for this post, I thought I'd imitate that idea. Here goes.
Cassie's Little Things
- a full tray of perfectly dipped chocolates
- a ten-minute West Wing quote explosion with my older brother
- sitting around singing Christmas carols with my family in my grandparents' living room
- "I used to live in a telephone booth, a telephone booth and that's the truth!"
- romantic stories about how my grandparents met
- pinky promises sworn via text message
- mulled cider and Maurice and Friday night movie nights
- The Princess Bride
- a well-adapted fairy tale
- cast iron skillets and hand mixers
- How I Met Your Mother and Neil Patrick Harris
- popcorn with cinnamon-sugar
- moments of silliness that no one will believe happened
- sharing my favorite books with someone reading them for the first time
- The Book Thief
- stories that make me cry
- writing something that is powerful and meaningful enough to make someone else cry
- completing a five grid, interlocking, sodominoku puzzle after a week's work
- sitting with my dad while he teaches me how to solve the puzzles in his Games Magazine
- sharing director's horror stories with my dad, knowing that he completely understands
- watching a show I've directed come together for the first time
- hearing my students say that what I've been teaching them is what they want to do for the rest of their lives
- being hugged on the sidewalk by eight-year-olds
- having a two-year-old fall asleep on my shoulder
- spending time looking at the world through a child's eyes
- Easter morning on the big hill outside of Hayesville
- My mother's Christmas Eve service
- Being read to by my parents
- Knowing that no matter where I end up or what I end up doing, I'll always have family to come back to.
And so many more.
Happy New Year, girls.
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