Silver Linings

Prompt: So few grains of happiness
measured against all the dark
and still the scales balance.
Jane Hirshfield

What are your few grains of happiness when things don’t go as planned?

Oh, Joy, you really know the questions to ask when my life is in the thick of things. I caught a cold and I went to ask one of my new managers if she had tea. Cathy did and handed me a mint tea bag. Trinae, my assistant manager, asked me how my writing was coming along. I told him it was coming, and I mentioned the Happiness Box Project. He had me pull up a chair and asked me to explain the project to him. I told Trinae that I started it five years ago, when I was trying to heal from a very difficult moment in my life. Every day I write something that either brings me joy or gratitude. Not all days are good, but there is always something to be grateful for. Life always has a silver lining. I open my box on 1/1, count my blessings, scrapbook the previous year while putting notes/photos in the box for the new year.

Both T and C loved that idea. T thought it was cool that I inspired a school in Africa with this project and he thinks I may be able to do some programs with schools or even the library. Heck, maybe I can do something with the public defender’s too. T liked my tenacity for life and that I don’t take the days for granted.

I’m happy that I’m with the Public Defender’s now. This is more of a match for me. I don’t write novels and I don’t participate in NaNoWriMo; the one time I tried to write a novel, I was raped and couldn’t finish the class. T tries, and he challenged me to either work on my memoir or a slam poetry novel during NaNoWriMo. If I have an account, we can follow each other. I have to figure out what my username is. I also mentioned Writing.com and he loves this site. I wonder if he’s a member. He said it’s been around for a long while, so maybe he was at one point!

These are the small moments that bring joy to my life, even when things don’t go as planned. As the old saying goes, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go a-rye!” Everything will go wrong at some point, but taking gratitude in the little moments that are right, really does go a long way. My Happiness Box taught me that.