Waiting for happy

In case you haven't noticed I enjoy Purpose Fairy.  Her posts are thoughtful, encouraging and thought provoking.  

http://www.purposefairy.com/7084/how-to-be-happy-in-an-unhappy-environment/

The title caught my attention.  It reminded me of a joke told by Dr. Banks.  Apparently it was also shared by Ronald Reagan.

The joke concerns twin boys of five or six. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities — one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist — their parents took them to a psychiatrist.

First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist.  Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys.  But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears.  ”What’s the matter?” the psychiatrist asked, baffled. “Don’t you want to play with any of the toys?”  “Yes,” the little boy bawled, “but if I did I’d only break them.”

Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist.  Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure.  But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist.  Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands.  ”What do you think you’re doing?” the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. “With all this manure,” the little boy replied, beaming, “there must be a pony in here somewhere!”

http://gregghake.com/2010/02/the-pony-in-the-dung-heap-ronald-reagan-eleanor-roosevelt-and-you/

After getting married, my husband moved our family around - a lot.  We sometimes moved a couple of times in one year.  I think the last count I had was 13 moves in the first 15 years of marriage.  When our kids hit high school, I felt that they needed to stay put for a while.  We have now been in the same place for over 20 years.  I was moved to some places that I really didn't like.  One place we lived in was on the edge of a farmers fields.  I opened up our toddler's bed covers to see a 4 inch spider hanging out feeling comfortable.  I don't object to tiny spiders in the window to eat mosquitoes.  I do object to big ones doing pushups on the bed.   We lived in apartments, trailers and houses.  Didn't matter where I was moved to I could find something good about it.  I struggled with moving around so much.  My parents are still living in the same house since my sister was born.  Where ever I moved to, I found reasons to be happy. I took my happiness with me.  Six beautiful little people that all grew up.  I finally reached the stage of missing the living in the eye of a vortex of raising teenagers.  Now we visit.  The time so brief and precious.  Time, place, and circumstances set the stage to play out our lives.  In every comedy is some tragedy and every sad story some comic relief.  I am the one that decides what I focus on.

Judy's blog is a nice balance to remind me that being kind to myself is essential when making choices to be happy.  http://theprojectbyjudy.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/inspiration-from-holley-gerth/