The Happiness Bug

Happiness is a wonderful feeling you cannot hold inside.

Happiness fills you with joy and laughter and gives you a sense of pride.

Happiness makes you want to jump up and down and give someone a great big hug.

When one person is happy it spreads from person to person like a viral bug.  

Happiness is a special feeling you want to share with others.

Happiness is a wonderful feeling as you can see. 

I hope everyone will be as happy as me.  

My mom has been cleaning out the closets in her house, finding treasures as she does.  One of the "treasures" she found was a stack of my writings dating back to 1993.  The above poem was one of them.  Reading it made me laugh out loud.  It is so simple and reminiscent of some of the things Madeleine has written.  Secondly, my writing style hasn't changed much over the past 18 years.  I still have a tendency to be cheesy and sentimental.

Do you know what else spreads like a viral bug?  Grumpiness.  I have discovered over the years that my mood often sets the tone for everyone else in the house and yesterday I was crabby.  I could not even tell you why exactly, but I was.  And like a virus it spread.  As the afternoon grew to a close I was suddenly motivated to turn it around.  After Steven got home from work we ate a quick dinner and drove to Holmes Lake for a walk in the fresh air.  The breeze rolling off of the lake accompanied by the sunshine proved to be the best medicine.

The girls played in the sand and waded in the water.

We tromped through wildflowers . . .

to get closer to these geese.

Audrey picked a few dozen "blowey things".

They appreciate a good view. . .

and occasionally the company of each other as well.

This was the view from where they were.

Looking cute and angelic here,

however this is more accurate.

She skips everywhere.

The fun of it caught on and they all started skipping.

Playing Simon Says.

Just some gratuitous cuteness.

Blizzards and Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen proved to be the perfect ending to our evening.  As cheesy as it sounded, I was on to something in the 8th grade.  The Happiness bug . . . spread it on.