Pure Joy and Abandon

As I sat outside watching Mozzie and Ziggy roll with abandon and pure joy on a dead worm I wondered, what is my human equivalent to that kind of joy? I looked around and there was Butch doing the same in a different part of the yard.  Riley and Zoe were just as happy to be lying by my feet soaking up the sunshine.

It has taken some thought, but I thought of a few things.  When we lived in Henderson I would sit out on the patio on my swing during a storm and feel pure joy.  Just the motion of swinging, whether there was a storm or not, brought peace and joy to my heart.  Rain, thunder, and lightning excite me to no end.  I do not know why, they just do.  I feel energized and happy during a good storm.  Add the swing to the storm and I am in Heaven!  I miss my swing.

Baking and cooking make me happy, especially if it is something I love to eat.  Yesterday I baked the best Toll House cookies ever!  Today I found a recipe for Almond Roca and I had all the ingredients, so I made that.  I am still waiting for it to harden so I do not know if it will be good or not, but just looking at it sit on the counter makes me happy.  I am making chili for dinner tonight.  That makes me happy.  Last night Mike made twice baked potatoes from scratch.  They were delicious!  I was extremely happy!  Mike and I are both very good cooks and we love to eat, so now you know why we are chubby.

I love to scrapbook and make cards.  In 2008 I went through a very difficult time, the hardest I have ever encountered.  I spent that summer and the next year scrapbooking my youth up through David and Rebekah’s first years.  It reminded me that life has ups and downs and I have survived them all.  It was so therapeutic.  I have been dying to get everything unpacked now so that I can do some more scrapbooking (or at least find my albums so I can relive what I have already scrapbooked) because this year, especially the summer until present, has been especially traumatic.  But then I had to get a job and it seems all I do now is work, sleep, do school work, do laundry, and cook a little.  I keep telling myself that I will get to the point where I can create a scrapbook again, just be patient.

Ever since I learned to sew in eighth grade, I have LOVED it.  I made many dance and prom dresses, many of which I still have.  I made clothes for Mike and I and my nephew Paul when he was little.  I stopped for a while, but did make a few things for Bekah when she was little.  I have made costumes for my children and dogs.  I started doing more after my mom gave me her sewing machine.  I made burial layettes for women whose babies had died at birth.  I made a few little girls dresses and gave them to my brother’s step-granddaughter.  I made a holiday vest that I guess I will wear this year (if I can find it among the boxes) because everyone I know is much smaller than me and I made it in a size large.  I have sewn some craft items.  My friend, Cindy, and I got together one year and made pillowcases for our families, and each other, that Christmas.  My favorite thing I sewed was the fleece vest I made for my Mom her last year of life.  She loved it.  I now have it.  Mike and I took a quilting class together a few years ago and I have two partially sewn quilts that I would LOVE to finish!  I also have a partially made quilt of one of my great-grandmothers that my Mom gave me to finish.

I love to hold and play with and watch my dogs.  They make me laugh, they comfort me when I am sad, and they are a great distraction when life gets hard.  I love dogs so much that I gave a year and a half of my life to a wonderful Dachshund rescue, helping find dogs furever homes.

I love to knit.   I have made countless scarves and blankets and when everyone in my family had enough, I gave them to my church for the homeless.

As read back what I have written, I realized that I love to give.  All of the items I make, I give most of them away.  It brings so much joy to my heart to give to someone else.  I am hoping that someday soon, I will find the time to create and give again.  That way I can live again with the pure joy and abandon that I saw in my dogs this afternoon.