Etching Happiness

Grateful for this life.

I've always felt I had all I needed to thrive.

Even when I had only a dollar to my name, even when I didn't have any warm winter clothes (in MN) or transportation.

My feet were always wet and cold on the bus.

I remember being on the outside looking in.

40 years ago, remember the beautiful people scurrying around NYC in their shiny black cars.

I remember the lady of the house with her self-important attitude about her job as a stylist in Manhattan and all of the designer labels she would drop. They meant nothing to me, the girl in K-mart clothes.

I just never understood the rat race.

During the holidays of 1985, I was a house servant to a wealthy Jewish family and the man of the house always explained why his faiths way was the right way...I let it go in one ear and out the other.

She would remind me of my place, always double checking (daily) that I wiped the finger prints from their chrome appliances and brass fixtures.

My father grew up in poverty and never assigned any importance on material things and it is because of him that I learned that without struggle, there is no satisfaction, and that happiness is the result of a hunger for the hunt.

Ive spent a lifetime hunting for the puzzle pieces of purpose and a life worth living.

The beauty is understanding there is no landing spot. No perfect place where you finally arrive.

It lives just one day at a time ~ to love and be loved.

Happiness, it turns out, isn't elusive at all, as long as you know where to look for it. It lives in simplicity.

It's not in things, gifts, likes, followers, titles or promotions. It's not in the right car, school or neighborhood either.

It's in the four pillars of life: family, friends, service and faith.

Let go of expectations and you'll find yourself enjoying the moments and places where happiness lives.