What is Happiness?

Happiness for me is...

My Cat: Rusty

The one and only Rusty! I lost the first cat that I considered mine back in February of 2009. Rusty was a tiny, stray kitten who became part of the family on July 5th, 2009. I picked him from a litter of his brothers and sisters. I don't know why but we just seemed to click from the start. He was mine and I was his. He is my baby and I tell him that. As you can see a prince, he even wears a sweater to protect him from the cold! We may have our nights of not loving each other so much and there are times where I'm sure he wants to bite me but love is what it is! 

My Family

Dad and I in 1990

Mom, a lamb, and me around 1990

My brother and I, 1995.

Good, bad, and the ugly; your family is going to see you through all the highs and lows in life. If you are very lucky, they will stick with you through it all and still be able to deal with you. My family means a lot to me, I might not always show it in thee best way but I love them and I would do anything for them. I thought that I was completely independent there for a while and then I was put back down to earth. In so little time, one decision for me and everything was different. I couldn't have got through that time without my family. You will not always be at your best nor will you be at your worst. Take the time to appreciate them! 

My Friends

If you're as lucky as I am, you've had some of your friends your whole life, some of them in the teenage years, and some of the from university/collage. Different stages and different people, all completely unique. Having someone that you grew up with and have seen you through all your stages is amazing but at times it can be hard because you see the way that you used to be and you know that you are not the person that you used to be but change happens. That friend for me is in most of my best stories, in most of my favourite memories, and is the keeper of a whole lot of not so great secrets. The high school friend who was around most of the school years can make you look back and remember the care free days and the funniest times but can also bring them back in a way. Days of games and predicting engagements, things just become tradition and you just don't know why. There doesn't need to be a reason, it's just because. University friends are the ones that you lived with and they watched you change from scared to death about your first days of school to a mostly confident individual. You share drunken memories and sometimes rely on each other for your memories, they're amazing, special, and see you in a way that others don't. Are all of them lifelong friends? I believe so, if I'm lucky. And I hope that I am! 

Nature

Sunsets

Daffodils/May Flowers

Beautiful Birdies! 

Cutest duck! 

A Crescent Moon

A Slightly Frozen Ocean

Pink flowers

Winter sunsets

A Chubby Grey Jay

A Distinguished Blue Jay

Nature makes me happy because there is always something to look at. Whether it be snow in the winter or birds/flowers in the summer. You will find something any time. Once you take the time to look outside and find something to appreciate, your own problems seem less. The world is a beautiful place and we only get one life, make the best of it. Which makes me want to travel a lot and take my Nikon with me! Newfoundland is beautiful and if you're lucky enough to be live here, you're lucky enough. If not; come visit! It's pretty! 

Books

I love em! There's no two ways to put that! I have been obsessed with reading and books since I could read or probably even before that because I tortured my father with stacks of them! He read em again and again! I find that losing yourself in a book is such an easy thing; you look down and when you look back up, time has passed, and you didn't even notice it going by. You can be anyone in a book and you can go on any adventure! It's amazing! 

So what is happiness? 

Clearly it's the little things! Those closest to you who can make you laugh over nothing and have so many memories that you could spend hours upon hours reminiscing. Being a pack rat, I have found many happy memories. I really should get back that scrapbook. Life is about enjoying the moments that you are given and being happy might be hard but you should find something that makes it easy. I remember being sad and lonely because I wasn't myself, there were things that were different, I would never be the same; I wrote letters to my friends who had moved away and we kept in contact via these letters and of course the internet. Getting something in the mail could make me smile for days, and I would read those letters until I had them memorized! The shortest note could make me the happiest. You might not know that someone is struggling but you can make their day in the smallest ways! Happiness is about spreading it around, I may not always be happy and I struggle just like everyone else but if a picture of a plump grey jay makes me happy; maybe it will make someone else smile too! Or you know a cat in a sweater with a mohawk! ;) 

Find something that makes you happy and follow it or get lost in it.