Day 11: Happiness is:

As I write my blog about finding happiness in each day, I am reminded of a horrible event that took place ten years ago. We are never supposed to forget about the loss of thousands of lives on one day. We are supposed to remember the fear, the tears, the devastating images that were played over and over again on television. It is called 911. A horrible time that brought people together.

Our society has a preference toward remembering the terrible moments. Yes, I remember that I had gone to work early, before anything had gone wrong. I was waiting for a person to come and install our T-1 line. A great library improvement. When Don walked in , he asked me if I had heard about the plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I looked at him as if he was making a very strange and morbid joke. What he said did not make any sense. We turned on the radio and heard the horrible news. We heard continued reports of all that was happening. I kept the library open. I felt that we needed to be available to the community.

This is the reason that I have committed to noticing and posting moments of happiness for 30 days. Life is short and unexpected. It is easy to remember the extreme terrible moments in our lives and the little cheerful moments are often quickly forgotten.

Happiness is living in the moment and taking notice of those wonderful times.

Today the Chicago Bears played a great game. They gave me hope for the upcoming season.

I went to Sandwich Fair to pick up my photographs and my award check with Tracy.

My happy surprise was that I won three red ribbons to go with my blue ribbon. The line to pick up checks for people with last names beginning with N-Z was very short. Not that it mattered. Tracy's last name begins with a "C." You could get mad that you had to wait, or you could laugh and visit with the people around you. We visited.

My great winnings paid for my entry fees. But that's not what it was all about. It was about the ribbons. About taking a chance and trying. About spending time with friends and being hopeful as we looked at each section of photographs.