The Frozen Southerner

What have you done so far in 2013 to find your happy? I do hope you’re doing everything you possibly can to find it. If your resolution wasn’t to be the happiest you that you can be – well, it should have been.

I’ll agree that it’s not always easy to find the happy. But it’s always there. One fist-pumping Livin’ On a Prayer away. I guarantee it.

Some ways I’ve found happy so far this year:
By ringing in the new year in my pajamas. Try and beat that. I dare you.
By way of heart-to-heart conversations across the cubicle wall (partition? flimsy divider?) with a coworker who makes Work Therapy a legitimate and validated thing.
By celebrating the wedding of two crazy kids who were meant to be together forever and ever, amen.
By rediscovering pears. (Seriously, they’re still awesome, you guys.)
By making brownies with sprinkles on top. Because everything’s better with sprinkles.
Ever heard of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts? Well, turns out, In-Your-Vehicle-All-Alone Concerts are also pretty freaking legitimate.
By way of dancing around my living room. Just call me one happy, living-room-dancing cliche´.

And Florida, I will appreciate you all the more.

Now, warm the heck back up because it’s cold. And I’m a wuss.

We’ve had a trip planned to Florida for a friend’s wedding for quite some time. We figured it would be a welcomed departure from a cold and dreary Wisconsin winter. As it’s turned out, however, Wisconsin’s been warm and toasty. Well, at least by Wisconsin standards. As in, two less-than-substantial snows and temps that have hung out like cool kids around the low- to mid-40s. The puffiest of coats and warmest of mittens have remained in the closets.

So this getaway to Florida doesn’t quite have the same can’t-wait-to-bask-in-the-sunlight sense of urgency as it might ordinarily have, but still. It’s Florida. In January. I’m still pa-lenty excited.

Can’t wait to sing Bon Jovi and Journey songs at the top of my lungs, and shake my stuff on the dance floor with some terrific friends. Oh, and of course, wish a long and happy marriage to two friends who deserve nothing but the best.

I also resolve to watch more YouTube videos of cute kitties. And puppies. Of course puppies.

And I resolve to run with reckless abandon through a field full of flowers. Because, you know, it looks cool in movies. And I like doing things with abandon. And also flowers.

Lastly, I resolve to try to take life and myself a little less seriously. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an uncanny ability to make even the light-hearted-est, cotton-ball-fluffiest moments into something serious, something to scrutinize and analyze.

Here’s to 2013’s resolutions. Less scrutinizing and analyzing and more reckless abandon.

Chai lattes and cake pops just make me happy.

The older I get, the more appreciative I become of family. The more I want to know my family history, and hold closely the stories passed down. The more I want to pinpoint to whom I can attribute my dimples and my sarcasm and my love of travel.

Two years ago, I resumed a pen-palship with my dear Great Aunt Edith. Edith and my late Great Uncle Jim left an indelible mark on my childhood. Despite their living hundreds of miles away in Pittsburgh, they traveled south to Tennessee nearly every Christmas so Jim could visit his beloved sister – my Granny – and her children and grandchildren – my brother, sister and me.

Jim and Edith’s visits were like shiny tokens I could hold in my hand and turn over and over and tuck away for safekeeping. They would come and regale us with stories from their lives – lives which always seemed so full and exciting, as well as updates on other faraway family. They squeezed us with hugs, they gave us gifts I still hold dear to this day, and their laughs – both of them – were infectious.

Jim passed away a few years ago, and when I started communicating regularly again with Edith through hand-written notes, I was overjoyed. I love receiving letters from my Great Aunt and hearing her words come to life as if she’d spoken them.

To my excitement, she informed me in her most recent communication that she was planning to be in Illinois visiting her daughter, one of my dad’s first cousins. Realizing their home was an easy drive for a weekend day, we arranged to stop by for a visit. And I’m so glad we did. The hours spent catching up, sharing stories, photos and laughter were restorative and thoroughly and utterly good for the soul.