October 21, 2012: Day 2

Today has been ... well ... a day. I wish I could say it was joy-filled and relaxing but...it was anything but those things. But since I don't want to focus on the negative, I will refrain from recounting the miseries of the day. Instead, I will try to focus on those few miniscule moments of ... joy. To be honest, I had to try my hardest to eek out some joy but I managed. It was fleeting at best...but it was there.

The first time was this afternoon at APCS Fall Fest. I was manning the donut booth where I string up a donut and the 'contestants' eat it with no hands. It's a rather comical setup with sporadical moments of popularity. Towards the latter part of my two hour shift, this little girl and her sister came up. They were about 3 and 5 years old--so doggone cute. They both looked at me with pure innocence and asked if they each asked if they could have a donut. Their mom (or grandma??) encouraged them to give me their two tickets for which, of course, I would exchange a donut. Their chubby little hands reached into the box and pointed to the donut that they wanted. So so cute. And then they looked up at me with those big eyes and said thank you. I melted. My joy was two-fold: I just love little kids--their innocence and sweetness. And these two little girls were simply precious. But secondly, it reminded me of my own little girls at that age. How I miss those days. Just thinking about it makes me smile.

The second time is when we were driving from Sports Authority where we bought shoes for Roy to Walmart this evening. It was rather tense in the car for a variety of reasons and we were stopped at a light in the middle of Asheville. I looked to my right and there--nestled on the side of a major thoroughfare was a peaceful river. It was quietly doing its business--the water lazily rolling along as trees hovered over each side. The sun was beginning to go down so shadows were cast on the water and it glistened. I just sat there, looking out the car window and for just a few moments the whirling thoughts ceased as I solely focused on that little river in the midst of a city. For a few moments it brought me joy.

And then tonight Jace asked if I would play a game with him. Roy had settled into his mancave for the night and Darian proclaimed herself too busy with homework as she has a project due tomorrow so I said, "Sure, Jace. Bring the game in here and I'll play with you." Naturally he chose Angry Birds--one of those games that has to be constructed and you try to destroy the construction by hurtling birds at it from a slingshot and knock over the pigs that are haphazardly placed on the construction. Anyway, since it's been "one of those days", I coerced Roy to come down and play (not an easy task). And then we were having so much fun constructing and destroying, that Darian stopped studying long enough to come in and see what all the commotion was about. Wen she saw the game, she determined that she wanted to play too so...she gave it a go. It was a nice ending to a rather stressful day: laughter. And? It brought me joy.