Carpe Happiness

It seemed like a topic that kept cropping up last week in numerous facets of my life, was about people’s attitudes about happiness. More specifically, about if people could choose to be happy, particularly in the face of circumstances that don’t generally lend themselves to happiness. I remember a quote I read that said, “The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.” That’s not to say that putting quotes around something makes it inherently true, but I tend to agree with this statement. I’ve been very fortunate in my life, so saying that I choose to be happy is no real feat. But, in the immortal words of Monty Python, I generally try to “Always look on the bright side of life.”  The strange thing is, there are people that will tell you, you are wrong or naive for choosing to be happy, or worse they will despise you. It’s as if there is a happiness pie, and if they can diminish your portion, their piece will somehow get bigger. I reject this notion. I am not weak, delusional or in some way unprepared for the unsavory outcomes in life because I have chosen to focus on the good. There’s plenty of sadness to be had if you go looking for, and sometimes when you don’t. But why worry about that, when you have this…

and this...

Even happiness has to be fed. Good thing Agnes's mom made dinner Saturday night.

As always, when we head to Babcia and Jadek's house, Andrew watches his favorite Polish cartoon. Bolek y Lolek. Andrew says he is the tall one with dark hair, I still don't know which is Bolek and which is Lolek.

We also were able to get some outside time. Andrew got to choose the game, so he went with badminton. Noah was the line judge.

As far as happiness and perception goes, these pictures are a good example. This weekend had its share of timeouts and tears, but that's not what I choose to remember and focus on. I chose the best, the most fulfilling.  They're not really hard to find once you start looking. Now, I will let Noah close out this post with a song.