The Cellar

The Cellar (http://cellar.org/index.php)
-   Nothingland (http://cellar.org/forumdisplay.php?f=36)
-   -   What's making you happy today? (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=14055)

Chocolatl 12-13-2012 03:52 PM

Yum! Lucky you, zip!

Chocolatl 12-13-2012 04:01 PM

Today I am happy to receive a bit of perspective.

It becomes so easy to drown in our personal struggles. I am not diminishing mine or anyone else's, but I feel like today the universe tapped me on the shoulder and brought me up for air. I was reminded that, in the grand scheme of things, I'm pretty damned lucky.

A former student of mine had an (unplanned) baby her senior year. She was able to graduate, but she just found out she is pregnant again. She's 19. Her first baby is only 8 months old, and she has an on again/off again relationship with the father of her children, who himself is a drug addled teenager. They are currently off, and all her friends on FB are asking who the daddy is.

Meanwhile, for all that I may be struggling in my role as a new mom, my daughter was brought in to a stable home with two parents who love her fiercely and are doing their best to be good role models for her.

I'm on leave for a year from the high school I've taught at for three years. At school today, three students were arrested for bringing weapons to school. Seeing blood and ripped weave on the walls was fairly standard for a Friday afternoon, and I have several coworkers who have been punched, kicked, and shoved against walls trying to break up fights.

While my friends have to worry about their own safety and the safety of their students, my two biggest stressors today were trying to find a parking space at the mall and two stocking stuffers that won't fit in their stockings.

My life is awesome. Even when I think things suck, looking around with fresh eyes reminds me just how good I have it.

orthodoc 12-13-2012 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zippyt (Post 843633)
Oh God !!! Another Shark in the water !!!
JK Ortho , congrats to your son !!!

Well, he's in intellectual property law, trademarks and patents - working at the PTO for a couple years - so I don't think anyone here has anything to fear. :p: Thanks for all the good wishes, folks!

And the salt - yeah, I got a little carried away with the salt. Not that I bought all that stuff, I'd just never seen so many kinds before.

Lunch sounds like it was awesome, zippyt! What a great thing to happen!

And thanks for the perspective, choco - as always your comments are full of insight. :)

xoxoxoBruce 12-13-2012 04:58 PM

But Choco, do you have an iphone 99, or hot and cold running maids, or other necessities of happiness? :angel:

Seriously, good for you. A lot of people would be a lot happier if the realized how good they have it. Your baby has a huge head start.

Clodfobble 12-13-2012 06:24 PM

1 Attachment(s)
The Christmas season is making me happy today (and generally speaking, that doesn't happen.)

It started about 9 years ago, by my recollection. There is a Christmas tree sales tent that sets up every year along an empty-ish highway that skirts the west side of the city. It kind of comes up out of nowhere around a bend, so what they would do is decorate a couple of the roadside evergreen trees just before the bend, so they could tell people to slow down and start looking when they saw the decorated trees.

But people thought the idea of decorating still-living trees was awesome. And the tradition has spread each year, so that now the entire 20-mile stretch of highway is full of decorated trees, on both sides of the road. Some have themes, like a local rock-climbing organization that decorates one way up on the cliff face each year that you couldn't get to otherwise.

Anyway, Minifobette's vision therapy is at the far opposite end of this highway from us, so every Thursday I get to drive past all the trees, and it makes me smile. It just keeps going and going, probably close to 500 trees in all. Not the greatest picture of it since I am driving at highway speeds while aiming with the camera, but this gives you an idea:

ZenGum 12-13-2012 06:34 PM

I like the tree decorations, but if they're all along the road, how do people know when to stop for the shop?

Clodfobble 12-13-2012 06:35 PM

Eh, they just see it too late and make a U-turn, like they always did. :)

zippyt 12-13-2012 09:18 PM

Sound like you got it going on Choco

BigV 12-13-2012 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orthodoc (Post 843641)
Well, he's in intellectual property law, trademarks and patents - working at the PTO for a couple years - so I don't think anyone here has anything to fear. :p: Thanks for all the good wishes, folks!

And the salt - yeah, I got a little carried away with the salt. Not that I bought all that stuff, I'd just never seen so many kinds before.

Lunch sounds like it was awesome, zippyt! What a great thing to happen!

And thanks for the perspective, choco - as always your comments are full of insight. :)

like what's his name.... Albert somebody....

glatt 12-14-2012 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 843666)
It just keeps going and going, probably close to 500 trees in all.

That's great!

nowhereman 12-14-2012 08:16 AM

That's a great idea - something that makes folk smile instead of being all wired out by the insanity that is the ***mas season. Me, I'm happy because my car AND truck (both of which I was afraid needed major repairs), turn out to be minor and easily fixable. :D

footfootfoot 12-14-2012 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 843549)
It takes a special kind of salt to make a man pass a bar.

If he can swallow it, he can probably pass it.

footfootfoot 12-14-2012 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 843666)
Christmas cheer, blah blah blah...Not the greatest picture of it since it is DAYTIME but this gives you an idea:

:p:

Clodfobble 12-14-2012 12:30 PM

It would take a helluva lot of extension cords for any of them to be lit, although I guess some of the tinsel-ish garlands might reflect oncoming headlights at night...

footfootfoot 12-14-2012 04:13 PM

hmmm. I'll let you off the hook this time.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:47 PM.

Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.