Although this month was a hit-and-miss finding reasons to smile, I did manage to find 6 reasons to smile in May.
The first reason to smile was that I celebrated an anniversary of sorts. 30 years ago this month, I landed in California. 30 years! Unfortunately I’ve recently begun dreaming of the day I can leave.
The one thing I truly remember clearly was when Courtney and I arrived in California all these purple trees were in bloom. Such a beautiful sight. The purple trees are called Jacarandas and although I took a picture of this one for my blog, it definitely is not the most beautiful. It was meant to be illustrative of the species. Too bad I didn’t notice that it was garbage day while out on my walk 🙂
The next thing that made me smile was my daughter, Madison. It was her senior prom this past month; she went with her boyfriend of over two years (still going strong), and a bunch of her friends. She looked so beautiful and she was so relaxed after all the pictures were taken. I’m so proud of her for going because she suffers from social anxiety so I know how hard it was for her to put herself out there. And she really put herself out there–Madison watched YouTube videos on how to do her eye make-up. What you can’t see is the amazing special touches she put on her lids.
The third thing that made me smile was I followed through and got a tattoo. I wrote an entire blog piece about it so I don’t think there’s anything more to say other than here’s what it looks like a week later:
The fourth thing that made me smile this month is that I was able to maintain my weight loss without being obsessive. Sure I fell off the wagon a couple (well, a lot) of times but I got right back on the next day. It seems as if my days of being completely out of control are over.
My friends rallied around me on the Friday of the Memorial Day weekend. I was a little sad about some other things that have happened this month and as soon as I was able, I crawled into my pajamas and sat inside watching TV while the neighbors had an impromptu get-together. Two of my neighbors came to my door to drag me outside. They would not leave until I got dressed, although one did say, “Nice jammies!’ It was like in the old days when you were a kid and somebody would knock on your door and say, “Can Catherine come out to play?”
I don’t have a picture of that night but I do have a photo from the cul-de-sac Memorial Day crayfish and Cornhole tournament I attended two days later.
And the final reason to smile in May is my ‘blue’ room is getting new built-ins so that I can write in the privacy of my own office instead of sitting on the couch in the family room. I can write without being interrupted as someone heads to the kitchen for a snack. I can write at whatever time I want–there’s no competing with the TV or conversation. I can leave my WordPress site wide open without fear that someone will come along and use my computer for something else. I’ll finally have a place all my own to escape to and an area to file papers. I’ll have bookshelves for books (gasp!) and drawers for the sticky notes that help me remember things I should do.
I am very excited that I got to pick out how it will look. I designed it myself. Fingers crossed it looks amazing.
What are some things that made you smile this month?
