Seven Things

Here are seven things I'm happy about:

1.) It is the Happy Six, the six month half of my year where I get home, and I'm done. I don't have other work to do. I don't have staging to write or emails I have to send or anything besides caring for my family and watching too much TV and reading Good Books or Trashy Books or all of my back issues of Real Simple. It's been hard to relax into that since I am not at my own home, but I'm doing the best I can. So I'm happy about that.

2.) Next weekend is Easter, and though it brings with it the yearly why-are-you-damning-your-children-to-hell-for-not-giving-them-Jesus business, it also brings chocolate covered peeps and the Saads Easter egg hunt, whihc is one of my favorite days. We have pictures of the kids from when they were tiny, tearing through the Saads' giant back yard in mud boots or winter coats or short sleeves. The parents stand about with cameras and mimosas, and in most of the years, we've had a new baby to sniff and coo over. This year, we've got Maya's debut, and there's something about new babies and Easter and daffodils and crocuses and Cadbury Mini Eggs that remind you that life goes on, and spring can fix almost anything, if you let it.

3.) Glee will be coming back soon.

4.) My mom took the girls last night so Patrick and I could have a date, and that was...good. I don't write about my marriage here, nor do I intend to now, but it was a good evening. We went to see my cousin MaryKate competed in the Mass Drama Festival, and she was stupendous. It was fun for Patrick to come there to watch her in Boston because he had competed there in high school, and then we tromped around Boston until we were tired. Which was at, like 8:00 p.m., 'cause we're super old, but we still had fun.

5.) Amelia has a feis today, and though it causes me suffering to endure a day's worth of skiddle-dee-diddle music and a seeming lack of organization, I'm always glad that I can bring her to do a thing she loves, see her be excellent, and know that nothing else I have to do today is more important than that.

6.) Though I may be homeless in four weeks, I know I have places I can go, people who will have us in our hour of need. It's a very comforting feeling.

7.) I got invited to have tea with Elizabeth Berg. Yes, THAT Elizabeth Berg. Only twenty people got invited, and though it's at an inconvenient time, I'm totally going. Because I got invited to sit down for two hours with my favorite author. When does that happen?

I'm stopping at seven things I'm happy about, because seven is a magical number and that's what I declared, but a little P.S. is...I could have kept on going. I could have listed 101 things that I'm happy about right now, and that's what I'm most grateful for.

Keep the cheer coming, Universe. I really appreciate it. Right down to my toes.