The Happy Post

After spending four days on the road, the weary spousal unit returned home for our joyous reunion, only to be greeted by a wife who would not shut up. I talked the poor man's ears clear off his head. He listened and listened and listened, and at the end of it all he said, "Okay. Now what's making you happy?"

Um, good point.

So without further residue, I present the things that are making me happy at the moment:

1) A little stipend from Bamboo Ridge, along with an invitation to possibly read at the University of Hawai'i in November.

2) Investigating Risa and Vida's desks at Back-to-School night. In her journal, Vida wrote a whole thing about a day when she got super mad and stomped up to her room. She illustrated it and made little thought bubbles over her head. They said, "Fine!" and "Okay!" Risa's teacher ends each day with a poetry reading. I like Risa's teacher.

3) A spousal unit who passed me a crumpled napkin as I passed by him on my way to do some job or another at the fundraiser last weekend. At first I was all hello? I'm not a garbage can, but then I uncrumpled it and it said...well, never mind. That's between us, ya nosy freaks.

4) Lea so comfortable and thriving at preschool this year.

5) E-mails from Barbara Jane and Joanne.

6) Tony Robles' e-mail agreement to do Author Day in February at R & V's school!

7) My local and brand-new Main Library, which is basically...paradise. I sat down at a computer there on Tuesday and wrote for two hours straight. The banter of four old men playing side-by-side chess games helped to keep things from being intimidatingly hush-hush. Of course I eavesdropped. "I'm not happy with my performance," said Man #1. To which his opponent responded, "Remember, it's only a game." Man #1 took umbrage: "Chess is not just a game! It is never just a game!" Yikes.

There. That wasn't so hard.