HAPPY

Last year Pharrell William's song Happy was everywhere.   I heard it on the radio, in stores, on T.V. and even at my yoga class.   I have to admit I always felt better and sang along and I never grew tired of hearing that song.   The truth was I really was not very happy.   Here a year later I feel like a different person and I can say I am happy.   It isn't that my troubles magically disappeared.  I still have frustrations with work and bill headaches but I just don't let every little thing eat away at me because life is too short for that.   I eat healthier and exercise.   I say "thank you" out loud in my car when I drive over the Golden Ears Bridge and see the blue and pink sky foretelling of another sunny beautiful day.  I feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful place surrounded by majestic mountains.   The simple act of picking wild blackberries near my home and contemplating making jelly and wine from them makes me smile.   How did this change come about?   It was a series of events both positive and negative that really made me think about the fact I will be 50 years old in December.  I always aspired to live to 100 and if I manage that I am almost at the half-way point.  Tomorrow isn't promised to me, or any of us, so I am making damn sure that while I am here, in this moment, it is going to be a happy one.