Quote Wednesday? At a Time Like This?!

My life is just a little bit bizarre right now.

But that isn't out of the norm. The main reason I started and kept this blog so well (if I do say so myself) for so long was that I wanted to document things. I wanted my (almost) full range of emotions to be stored in a public space forever. Okay, so maybe not those last couple of things but yeah to the rest. It's nice to look back and not actually have to re-live so many of those moments again. It's like eating a Costco teriyaki bowl but someone took out those disgusting green beans (gag).

I'm currently staying with some friends who have only known me post-Grenada and post-California days. It's been fun to hang out and talk more. Grenada typically comes up and because it is such a strange and foreign thing- I jumped on the blog to show some pictures. Of course that led me to the rabbit hole of Grenada posts. Many many Grenada posts about so many things. I'm so happy I took all that time to document those strange tales and feelings. It reminds me that life is simultaneously lemons AND lemonade. It's not bad then good. Ugly then pretty. It's just life.

Ross and I have been racing around almost non-stop since March. Every weekend (and some weeks) we have been flying and driving all over. Life is locomotion. And I can't stop thinking that. Maybe because of this quote:

"Life is locomotion. If you're not moving you're not living. But there comes a time when you've got to stop running away from things and you've got to start running towards something. You've got to forge ahead. Keep moving. Even if your path isn't lit. Trust that you'll find your way." 

It's late and I'm not particularly interested in addressing the bits that call me out for running away from my problems #tooreal, but I love the quote. And that seems to be my style. I've gotten pretty good a forging ahead. Forging isn't a nice cute clear cut path. It's messy. It's chaotic. It's often rushed. But it implies importance and intention. And I like that. In life, sometimes it is all you can do to keep moving. Even when it is the hardest thing to do. Even when the path isn't lit. Because we just have to trust that we will find our way. Sometimes we find the way, sometimes we just keep forging. Maybe life isn't locomotion. Maybe we don't have any destinations.... but rather constant motion in a positive direction.

QW #22: Homemade Happiness Extract

I'll be the first to admit that "happiness" tends to elude me. In this time of transition (again) in my life, it seems like so many things are continually going wrong in a world of perpetual "hiccups." 

That's why, when perusing my favorites quotes, I decided right away this was a good one to write on today. 

"The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things." -Henry Ward Beecher

When I got thinking about this quote, it occurred to me that happiness can be found in moments. In the roller coaster world in which we live, it's perfectly okay to be happy one moment, then not the next. I think we fool ourselves into thinking that happiness is a status we must achieve and maintain for "x" amount of days before it fully counts. You have to be a happy person, or a happy family, or be happy with your job, or whatever.

That's a silly way to think. 

I like to think of happy moments. Little rays of sunshine in what can sometimes be a gloomy day.

As I've been unpacking and getting settled in a new apartment I've been doing a lot of arranging and rearranging and configuring and re-configuring. As I sat back the other day to look at this spot I couldn't help but feel very pleased with myself. This little spot in my new home made me feel so happy! I remember thinking what a dumb and little thing it was, but everything about it just brought a smile to my face.

This ray of sunshine is my small dinning room. It sounds a little too formal for an area outfitted in a borrowed card table and folding chairs but that's exactly what it is. Blue and yellow has to be my favorite color combination since the beginning of time, and sunflowers are my favorite flower. So it makes sense why this little eating area makes me so happy.  I took common things and with my creativity, I set up this spot. I love the way the sun comes in during the day and lights up the room (which you can't see because otherwise the photo would be backlit). 

My absolute favorite part of this room isn't the striking color combo, nor the sunflowers.

It's the tablecloth.

Now, a tablecloth would usually meet Beecher's "common" requirement. But this isn't any old tablecloth. My mom made this tablecloth for me. And although you can't see the intricate stitching and detailing, believe me that it took my mom hours, weeks, and months to make this for me. I see it multiple times a day and I think of all the love (and maybe secretly a little frustration) she poured into creating it just for me.

And that makes me really very happy. 

I don't think that I'll ever win the lottery (no mind that I don't play the lottery...). I don't think I'll ever strike it rich or make it big. But for now I can work on extracting happiness from common things in my life. Because that's a start that's good enough for me.