13 Happy Things

This seems a weekly affair. My weekends become insane and by the time I've calmed down from the weekend rush and gotten over the hump of the Monday/Tuesday blahs, it's time to blog again. I wish I could keep up with it more. I wish I were more dedicated. I wish I could paint a picture with my words so that you could read the mental photographs of my day-to-day life. I wish a lot of things. I wish I were smarter, more patient and more relationally outgoing. I wish I had gorgeous thick hair and toes that are always painted. I wish sometimes life wasn't so unknown. If I knew something was coming down the road, I could wait. But there is no promise. No guarantee. Especially being a Christian, the Lord promises eternal life and beyond that, no bed of roses. I wish I could lounge by the pool on a gorgeous July afternoon everyday and call that life. Life's actual definition is much more harsh, though. I'm not sad, just currently reflective. Sometimes I wish I was better than what my weaknesses allow. I get so frustrated with myself and sometimes wish I could whisk away and hide from my imperfections. Sometimes I'm overly lazy and downright rude. Sometimes the harsh New Yorker comes out in me and sometimes I don't stand up to bullies and debate. I wish I were graceful. I think I like delicate things because I want to be delicate, not because I am. Sometimes I wish I were more driven, but I am glad of my enjoyment of the here-and-now and the classified mundane. Sometimes I wonder if I was made for American life. It's so... effervescent and challenging. It's driven and motivated. I think sometimes I would prefer the quiet life of a village. If I could have constant water, food, shelter and friendship, I think I could be happy in a much simpler lifestyle. Sometimes this world is too gung-ho. Why do I have to have the highest paying job? Why does everything depend on its profitability? Why can't it just depend on if the individual is happy or challenged? Why do we need to put such pressures on ourselves?

I don't have answers. But I do have little things that make me happy. Things that take me to another place and tell me it's alright to be calm; to enjoy the company of others and be at peace. These are my 13 happy things:

1. Small propeller airplanes. They remind me of Saturday afternoons growing up.
2. The smell of a BBQ and the sound of the laughter that emanates from the players.
3. Live theater.
4. Caramel Macchiato in the Starbucks holiday cups around Christmastime.
5. Royal weddings. Weddings in general.
6. Afternoons at my Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe's with all 30+ cousins.
7. Sound Beach.
8. The cityscape of NYC from the Throggs Neck Bridge.
9. Traveling the world and finding new places that feel like you've always belonged.
10. Jumping on a trampoline and feeling that rush through your ears.
11. A bouquet of flowers - wild or staged.
12. The Golden hour - also known as the Magic hour.
13. Fresh snow and a day off from work with the fireplace lit.

What are some of your favorite things? This seems so Sound of Music... not surprised by myself at all!