INTENTIONAL HAPPINESS
Unearthing a box of meticulously folded notes from Junior High?
!!!
Reading them?
Equal parts !!! and ??? to be sure. Will keep you posted; I’ve yet to dive in.
Finding a copy of Entertainment Magazine tucked under the treadmill to my left as I cooled down after a quick five miles.
More confirmation that I have to read the book that’s been an integral part of the !!! this week for a certain someone I know and love.
Looking at this photograph when I need a little pickmeup.
Oh, and that’s my MAMA, wearing a motorcycle helmet, dancing on two stools in my kitchen while the puppy yips and yaps and jumps at her heels.
Totally, totally !!! worthy, no?
Do not be fooled by the fact that sweet, red-headed Jamis held my little !!! icon upside-down. Cirque du Soleil was a super special moment to share with my oldest boy and his most wonderful GG.
The show was spectacular, sure, but the real !!! of our experience was watching the expressions of my son take hold as the players jumped, spun, contorted and swung their way around the big top.
I’m stunned into silence and tears when I realize how beautiful my children are, how quickly they are growing up, how blessed I am to be a mom, THEIR mom.
!!!
These moments of intentional happiness help me connect to the details that so often get swept up as “just another moment in just another day.”
Because all of it matters. Every little bit of this life that seems bigger than me. And when I stop to breathe it all in a smile creeps across my face.
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ck might be taking a break this week from Bad Mommy Moments to make some Good Mommy Moments, but we still wanna know…
what makes you
(be sure to add the full link of your !!! post if you are joining us today)
Read More in !!!, Sarah Writes
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Love these images, Sarah. Cirque du Soleil is magical at any age. But I have to believe that seeing it for the first time as a kid is extra special. I can’t wait to take IEP someday.
I don’t think I have words to express how awesome it was to share that with him. It’s magical, yes, but the whole experience embodied something MORE. He’s almost 8. EIGHT! eight. I can’t believe it. I’m baffled and proud all at once.
With two very needy little brothers back at home, I was able to breathe in the maturity of my oldest boy. That he could be expected to sit still for two whole hours, not whine for snacks or climb on me like a jungle gym. And that he could fully appreciate the magic of a most amazing show right along side me.
!!!
Awesome list. That picture of your Mom? Priceless!! I did my first !!! yesterday and it was great! There’s also an award for you at my little ole blog when you get a chance to stop over!!
I know it…that GG is a silly woman. But MY silly woman. I love my mama something fierce no matter what, but a 60-something woman who dances a jig on a stool wearing her jammies and a motorcycle helmet? Totally awesome!
I love that you’re looking for intentional happiness. And I adore that picture of your mom in the helmet. There’s gotta be a story behind that??
You know, it’s funny, I don’t even know WHAT the story is with that picture. I’m sure one of the boys brought the helmet inside the house and put it on. I imagine they then tried to put it on my mama. And, of course, she obliged. But getting on top of the stools and doing a little dance? Ummmmmmm, one can only imagine with MY mama…a little bit of silly in her and a WHOLE lotta fun.
Sarah, I love these photos including that image of you on the right holding your !!! icon. And that picture of your MAMA and the pup warms my heart this morning.
Belinda,
I’m so glad you mentioned that photo I linked up on the right–the one of me. I was worried that my face would seem HUGE, but I’m glad I put it there. I need to be reminded as much as the next person that I DO stop and smile once in a while, just because. Because I can, because I want to, because it’s intentional.
!!!
That picture of your mom is frameworthy :)
Totally! I just wish the quality were a bit better. But I think no matter what it gives off smiles and lots of laughter. Definitely something to put on a wall or, at least, the refrigerator door.
Those pictures are fabulous! What wonderful memories! Hmmm I may have to do my own little !!! post!
Oh yes, you should. Doing a weekly !!! post has turned my world around. Especially when–like the last THREE WEEKS–I feel I don’t have any joy in me, let alone any to share. But it’s there. It’s there if we want it to be, and there if we let it be.
!!!
“I’m stunned into silence and tears when I realize how beautiful my children are, how quickly they are growing up, how blessed I am to be a mom, THEIR mom.”
This quote just made my day. It’s exactly how I’m feeling today.
I’ve been a mess of tears lately. Mama tears. Sarah tears. Tears of crisis and loneliness and fullness all at once. I don’t think there’s been a day that’s gone by in the last three weeks that I haven’t walked out a room hiding my eyes because one of the kids made my heart swell and my tears well up.
That IS a quick five miles! Good for you! And I LOVE that picture of your mama!
YES! I’ve been running again! It should probably have been top of the list of my !!! for the week. The miles bring me closer to my dreams, hopes, and faith. And push the fear and loneliness away…at least for a little while.
I love everything on your list, but stopping to appreciate the !!! that is being a mom to our children is truly the best !!! of all. :) Thank you for hosting this! :)
Sadly enough, I don’t think I appreciate it as often as I should. It’s depressing how engaging the details of life management can be. If I could just have someone taking care of all the organizing and facilitating around here…
Your mom would fit in spectacularly here with my motorcycle loving husband. Though he really needs to learn how to dance.
And The Girl With a Dragon Tratto, great, fun book!
And I want you to know that participating in !!! each week is making a difference for me. Really. I stop and think and appreciate so much more than I used to. Thank you! xo
Oh Christine, it’s changing my world up and down. For a day or two after !!! day and a day or two BEFORE !!! day it’s on Mah MIND. That only leaves like Monday to be grumpy…and who’s not a little depressed and grumpy on Monday anyway?
I MUST take Hannah to see Cirque. She’d absolutely ADORE it without a doubt. I love that you shared it with J. And that pic of your mom is Priceless. I can’t stop thinking about it.
I am going to try to link up after my weekend away. I didn’t have a chance to find my !!! moments yet this week, although I seem to ALWAYS have !!! in the back of my head. Hopefully the Hamptons will bring some good material!
And you are lucky. Even on the worst days. You are lucky to have those kids. Those crazy kids and to call yourself their mom. It’s hard, oh so hard sometimes to see through the blur of tears that they may bring you to some days but you know… you’re a lucky lady in the end.
xox
I know. Oh how I know. Lucky and then some. Even when it’s hard–as it’s been lately–I know this. It’s what makes the hard just “hard” and not life-stomping.
And having !!! in the back of your head is just as good as any blog post could ever be. It’s changed the way I think and breathe and react to the unpredictable situations in my daily life. And, let’s face it, there are SO many. So, SO many!
I wish I could remember how to fold all those fancy jnior high notes! But I would totally not be brave enough to read them, oh no…
Yeah, totally haven’t yet had the wherewithal to open a single one of them. I’m thinking a night with my best friend from Junior High would do the trick though. A bit of wine and some football-folded notes would have us both rolling on the floor in laughter…no doubt!
I, too, love the picture of you on the side of the blog. It makes me smile.
I laughed out loud when I saw that picture of you mom. Hilarious! I hope my husband snaps silly photos like that of me someday.
Oh I know he will! If you’d like to borrow the helmet, let me know. Though I’m sure you can come up with something equally silly alllll on your own!
Thanks for inspiring us to reframe our own lives in terms of !!!—thinking this way really helps shape our gratitude which I can see, by way of comments, rippling out across the float of our world.
Yes, what on earth was that all about? Something about Maxie wanting me to wear the helmet and the puppy being her usual over-exuberant self. On now, there I am, in all my ridiculousness, for the world to see. Better not to take oneself too seriously, n’est-ce pas? Vroom vroom vroom…..
I love that I made it to your list – DEFINITELY a !!! of my week. The second runner-up is the photo of your mom. I need to come hang out at your house pronto. You momalomers know how to par-teeee!
That’s really your mom?? Priceless!