Wednesday, May 11, 2011

There is no charge for Awesomeness...


photo evidence of a Random Act of Chocolate. A pb cup the size of my hand.

In the annals of my personal whatever, this has been A Week.

Yes, it’s only Wednesday. Yes, we’ve had weeks with brain surgery and epic yikes. We haven’t been THERE this week, but... this week just hasn’t been Super Dee Duper (sorry, Barney).

So I decided to blatantly borrow from a recent Gretchen Rubin post on her Happiness Project facebook page, in which she talks about little bits of awesome. You know, those little things that just make you inordinately happy. Here is some of my list:

• A flower growing and blooming in a sidewalk crack.
• Being barely awake in the a.m. and hearing the chug chug chug of ye olde Farberware, indicating my spouse Made the Coffee!
• Forgetting to eat breakfast and finding it is Someone’s Festal Day at school, so there’s crumb cake in the teachers’ room!
• The first night I see fireflies in June.
• Veterans riding in open cars at parades.
• Finding a favorite out of print childhood book at a rummage sale (remember Seven Alone, anyone?)
• Anything with a wild 60s pattern on it.
• Sticking my hand into the pocket of a jacket and finding $2 I forgot about.
• Having this moment happen just as I realize I am approaching a Dunkin Donuts with a drive-through.
• Any time a stranger or person at a store just randomly smiles at me.
• Going to the library for ME books.
• Having the perfect comeback when someone is being a cheerful pain in the neck.
• Perennials.
• Seeing my son get a hit in baseball as I’m praying “God, I know it’s not a big deal in the larger picture of life, but if A could get a hit right now that would be awesome.”
• Seeing the aforementioned son be a nice big brother and join his 8 year old sister in a rousing version of Just Dance’s Spice Girls number.
• Little random countdowns from my 8 year old written on any surface she can find. Today’s countdowns include Mom’s Birthday, My Birthday, and Daddy’s Baptism Day.
• Hearing my middle child laugh in her explosive giggle.
• Laughing with my sisters.
• Laughing about wildly inappropriate things with my sisters.
• Ok, any time with my sisters.
• Having my godson run to me and give me a hug.
• A Random Act of Chocolate.
• Potatoes.
• French fries (aka happy potatoes).
• Watching clouds float by.
• Seeing a ridiculously large bird like a heron or turkey up super close in my yard.
• Puzzles.
• Sticks furniture at my favorite gallery in Lambertville. Or anywhere, Sticks is happiness for me.
• Anything drawn by Tomie DePaola.
• Finding a book by Tomie DePaola at a rummage sale.
• The moment when a student says,bubbling with excitement, “So we were at this nursing home in DC, and I realized the lady I was talking to was old enough to remember the Civil Rights movement, so I asked her if she had been to the march, had she met Dr. King, and she said YES!” right after our unit on the Civil Rights movement.
• The moment the overture begins at a musical theater show. I always get ferklempt at the beauty and anticipation contained in those first notes.

Once you get going, it’s hard to stop. My list of awesome doesn’t fix all the ugh of this week in progress, but it does help. What would you add? What are your moments of awesome?

I have to run the dancing son to physical therapy and feed the hungry girls...real life beckons. But I’d love to hear YOUR awesomes.

6 comments:

  1. My moments of awesome include (but are not limited to):
    - my favorite song coming on the radio so I can sing like an idiot because I'm alone in my car
    - my littlest one grabbing my cheeks and pulling my face until it's smooshed into his and saying "I just love you, mom"
    - Biggby buy one get one free coupons in my email box so my co-workers and I have an excuse to buy expensive coffee
    - a random phone call or email from a friend just because they're thinking of my
    - having friends over for cook-outs in the summer... our kids all playing happily on the play set, we're all sitting around just "being" together
    - my nephew telling me I'm his best friend
    - my oldest one asking me to tuck him in because even though he's at the age where he thinks he doesn't need me so much, he totally does
    - songs at church that make me tear up because they are simply perfect for my life at that moment in time and they move me like nothing else
    - waking up before my alarm and realizing I can snuggle up to my husband for just a little longer
    - when my husband warms up my side of the bed!
    - when my kids crawl in bed together because they love each other so much (even though they're supposed to stay in their own beds on school nights)
    - mornings when I can hear my boys together and they are being so nice to each other... it's hard to believe they'll be fighting later

    Just a sample - I am a FAN of random acts of awesome :)

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  2. My awesomeness would be reading your post and realising you make me laugh every time - even though I am far away and we have never met you enrich my life.
    Awesomness was seeing and feel my grandbaby kick from inside her/his mother
    Thank you for your thought provoking blog

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  3. moorhen chicks on the pond in the field (just saw some)

    buttercups in long grass, and wild roses

    Playing the accordion, not too badly

    First morning cup of coffee, or meeting family for a coffee in town

    The Emperor Concerto

    A free day ahead with no plans

    Sarah

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  4. So apparently blogger is having issues and my comment may have been lost... So i will add to your list a few of my own.
    Holding a 4 day old chunka lunka baby girl
    Kohrs custard on the boardwalk
    Sand between my toes
    Finishing a great read and discovering there is a sequel
    Travelling anywhere
    And (having had this moment yesterday)
    Having you four year old nephew slip his hand into your because he wants you to join him.

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  5. Smelling lilacs on a spring day.
    Feeling the warmth of the sun.
    Waking to the sounds of my babbling baby girl.
    All the smells of my daughter.
    Seeing that my husband filled my gas tank for me.
    Walking on the beach or hiking in the mountains.
    The sounds of nature.
    Spending time with my sisters.
    Spending time with my brothers.
    Knowing that my nieces and nephews think I'm cool.
    Snuggling with my husband.
    Laughing so hard that it hurts.
    Crying so hard that it hurts.
    So many things....I need to take time to write a list for myself.
    Reading your blog so I can remember to appreciate the awesomeness of live.

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  6. One Thousand Gifts..by Ann VosKamp...if you don't have it, reserve it at the library, or buy it!!! (must get to your blog more often....loveyou, D.)

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