130 Spreading the Happiness

A challenge to blog what is making you happy right now from Chookooloonk!
excerpt from Chookooloonks:
Last week I was in the car listening to NPR, and heard a piece on a new study that seems to indicate that happiness is contagious:

A new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego documents how happiness spreads through social networks.

According to the study, if you're happy, your friends who live nearby have a 25% higher chance of being happy. And your next-door neighbour? 30%.

What is making me happy right now?

The smell of coffee. But even better, the taste!

Connor! Squeaking and babbling while he plays. Is there any sweeter sound than your child's voice??!! And the sound of his fat little feet walking on linoleum. It is a sweet little smack smack sound! He walks so hard, and so purposefully.

Memories! Right now he is walking around with a fish net we acquired when Katie, Grammy, and I went to Tybee Island. And that memory, makes me completely happy. We had a wonderful little slice of vacation. We had an ADVENTURE! Totally unplanned and fabulous! I can't wait to do something like it again. It is so hard to be spontaneous with children. Mom, plan to be spontaneous this summer :)

Great friends! For years I have felt pretty much alone on the friend front. I had my hubby and my Katie. The rest of our family hours away, and my friends from high school and college. Sure, there were people at work. But barring the rare exception, most of those "friends" disappeared when the job did. Of the 50+ work friends, maybe 3 are still around, but they were the best 3 :) Now I have a little squad of women I consider to be true friends. And of course, I met them through Katie. Thank goodness I had the foresight to have an outgoing little girl! And like most women, I have my best friend, my Mom!

Facebook! Discovering people from long ago. Re-meeting some people. Seriously, there are some people that I would never have called "friend" in high school, but now that we are grown up with kids and lives outside of Norcross, I am happy that I get a chance to know them. And, I am a horrible communicator! I can log-in and check status updates, leave comments, and just catch up. It makes me a little less of a loner, or at least I feel like less of a loner.

Tivo! I don't get much tv time when Katie is home. We are eternally stuck in the cartoon region of satellite world. But, when she heads off to school and I just have Connor to entertain I can catch up on all of my favorite shows. Grey's Anatomy (Izzy is having an affair with her dead fiancee Denny), Lipstick Jungle (Niko wants to raise her dead husband's love child), Desperate Housewives (have not watched it yet, but I am sure it is good), and Days of Our Lives. (Sammy is falling in love with her Witness Protection guard, like we didn't see THAT one coming!)

Time alone with my hubby.

A full night of sleep in my own bed.

Right now, in this moment, that is what is making me happy.