Tales of the Ordinary Days

Enjoying the scenery, sun, fresh air I just finished a gorgeous bike ride. Twenty miles of Colorado beauty right outside my front door. A new normal is beginning. People are venturing out again. Cars and trucks traveling the county road towing paddleboards, kayaks, and rafts; enjoying Memorial weekend. People feeling the outdoors itch was evidenced by the number of bicyclists climbing the winding stretch of County Road 240 east of Durango up to Lemon Dam. Garrett was intermingled with this chain gang, maintaining his own pace but looping back occasionally to check on me. "Good job!" "How are you doing?" "Almost to the top. You got this!" His words of encouragement as he breezed by me. With my love language - Words of Affirmation and Garrett's - Quality Time, this Sunday morning bike ride definitely resulted in a win-win. I have likened this isolation time as feeling like Garrett and I are on a weekend couples retreat that just doesn'...

Lucy & Zeke....BFF's Happiness. What really is this in it's most simplistic form? We humans struggle with it daily, but our dog counterparts seem to have it figured out. A nip, a romp, and play in the backyard demonstrate everything true to bliss. I have dog envy. They make it look so easy. Mid-life or quarter-life crisis, getting old, empty nests, finding meaning...crisis' of different forms, but definitely an overthinking of our lives vs the love of the moment as demonstrated by our pup pets. Life is such a funny movement of time. We think we have it all figured out as we stroll through the days in a comforting hum. And then the routine changes, some a natural evolution and some a shock to reality, but we keep on plodding forward. Chin up and eye on the next trophy. That's the easy way, but really not an exercise in reflection, but a futile attempt to stay busy. And then I watch my dog. His love for me is unconditional and he has no problem spreadi...

Sunrise picture I took on my way to Skutt with Grant this morning I toyed around with calling this blog Positivity and then went with my gut and called it Happiness. No one can take that away from me. I own that feeling. Today I read a post from a perceptive young man on FaceBook. He asked the question "What does it take for someone to be happy?" I loved it. Perfect timing. I spent the day battling the devil. In small ways and in big ways. The deadly sins of greed, envy, pride, and manipulation with selfish motive (my self-proclaimed 8th) are abound. Such is life. I have choices to make. Dance with the devil and get pulled into the crap. Or rise above it? I chose #2. On the drive to drop Grant off at school this morning, I was enthralled with God's beauty in the rising sun. Grant rolled his eyes as I snapped pictures at the stoplight next to school. "Mom!! Stop" was his pleading. But then he smiled. Just two nights prior, he pointed out the ...

This blog has been sitting in my mind for some time. During my most thoughtful times (i.e. walking the dog and long bike rides), I have pondered this specific blog title and its intertwining relationships into my own personal life. This week I was reminded of this theme once again. Amid some mild oppression from a myriad of outside forces, I did what I typically do in these situations. I thought of the words of a dear friend. Life is beautiful. No better way to avoid the bad things in life than to focus on all things good. Wallowing in negativity is not my gig. So tonight I will transfer my recurring thoughts from mind to blog. Preparing for my blog post, I scoured my computer picture files with the goal of finding a recent picture of my boys. In my mind's eye, I pictured them smiling; enjoying life. There were many to choose from; football games, family trips, rough-housing in the backyard. Instead I kept coming back to the picture above. A forgotten picture of me....

Date night conversation Thursday night was date night. On this particular evening, Garrett and I chose sushi with a little wine for me and beer for him. As always, date night was our time to talk about anything and everything with no interruptions. No kids. No guests to entertain and no agenda. An open forum to enjoy each other's company. We have solved many of life's problems out to dinner alone or on a long road trip. The topics vary and we never lack for conversation. Just as it should be. Although we talked about many things on our most recent date, the topic that stuck with me was centered on happiness. What makes us happy? How do we gauge our own happiness? A recent article I read on the subject brought some good thoughts to our discussion. I asked Garrett to tell me, at that moment his happiness factor. And then on a scale from one to ten, I asked him to estimate mine. The conversation that followed revolved around what impacted this factor. An honest conversat...