Happiness is Love

Dylan was happy to see me today. His little kid kisses were full of thanks to have mom back.  With no grant deadline or travel in sight, it's good to be back to normal life, being a mom and folding laundry.

I confess that I am guilty of  being a road warrior and grant junkie. For the past month we  traveled cross country from  Sonoma, CA to Columbus, Oh and NYC. This past week we submitted all of the poverty reduction U.S. Treasury Grants we labored over during 18 hour work days-  and held our final meeting in Louisiana, literally the beautiful bayou. The people, they were warm like an apple pie right out the oven. An old minister and college professor schooled this white girl on how to play dominoes. Scott (one of my business partners and a dear friend) and I left after eating the best gumbo, being embraced by a group hug and farewells from our new friends.

After sleeping for 14 hours, I woke this morning absolutely delighted to run errands to replenish the basics like TP and garbage bags, do the dishes and enjoy the connection of laughter, hugs and random conversation with the kids, my brother and the people round home that I love. It's amazing what being MIA from your own life will do to your TP supply. (Ponder that for a moment. It is meant to be odd.)

During the travel, I picked up a magazine, The Atlantic, founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who I admire for his logic, poetry and science based spiritual philosophies. Tonight, online I was steered to a video by the Atlantic about a Harvard research team that followed 269 Harvard students, 10 men through their entire lives starting in 1930 to document the keys to happiness and how to live well. The men are now in their 80s. The video is short and well worth the watch up to the final seconds.

I found the video while searching for the folloing quote:

“I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Archilles; Fortune hath not one place to hit me.” 

Sir Thomas Browne

Life reflects back to us our own attitude. We experience what we expect to experience, because it is what we create. When we face adversity and view it as opportunity. The attitude shapes our sight. The adversity passes and we are left with: The Opportunity.

The Harvard Study's concluded that happiness is love. I believe our happiness comes from our way of being. When our way of being is loving, that is what the world reflects back.

As I center on this with faith in a loving God, I am the happiest woman alive.

Ever Feel Just Incredibly Blessed?

After a month of traveling from Sonoma, CA to NYC for work, I came home to see this sign. The porch was decorated with ten beautifully carved, lit pumpkins. The whole house was clean, including the boys room, the dishes, fresh sheets. This is all the work of the amazing, magnificent (drum roll please) Jenny Arde.

Jenny (pictured with beau Todd) is a single mom, like me. She owns her own business, again ditto. She is renting the spare room in my home and her son and Dylan are sharing a room while construction finishes on my investment house, the mother-in-law home on my property. She will move into that home at the end of the month. And what's brilliant is: we lift each other up! We help one another with the kids, cooking, laundry and she is bringing so much to the table on the construction projects from drywall hanging to painting. The business she owns is a painting company. So while she builds equity in my properties, I am giving her slashed rent so she can save her money away to buy a home for her and her son.

Here's a photo of our boys with their best bud Travis before last week's soccer game. This week Ashton cleaned Dylan's room and left a note for him that said, "Thanks for being a really good friend. Love, Ashton." Dylan and I are so blessed to have such great friends in our lives.



Speaking of, for her birthday, one of my dearest friends, Robbi Firestone took me to see Teatro Zinnzani. It was amazing. She won the tickets at a philanthropic event she attended this summer. We had the best time. Robbi does so much good in the world, it doesn't surprise me that the universe gave something remarkable back to her. Last year alone Robbi donated over $30,000 to local non-profits from her art. She is a world class oil portrait artist. My favorite story is her donation to Camp Korey, which is a retreat for children with life threatening illnesses.

With all of this gratitude, how could I not instigate something to give back to the world. When I got sick from my trip to Ohio and stayed home with my mom, I was spoiled by her homemade chicken noodle soup. As soon as I got back to Tacoma, I made a quadruple batch of soup and delivered it to sick friends. Everyone is sick right now and so many people don't have insurance- or even moms close by to make soup. So I threw the idea onto Facebook as the Chicken Soup Movement to encourage others to do the same and 134 people from across the country have accepted or passed it onto others to join to make soup for sick people in their neighborhood. Crazy, awesome! Check it out.