I'll be happy when...

I lose fifty pounds.
My house is clean.
My husband buys me a diamond ring.
Jamaica.
The dogs stop pooping in the yard.
The kids stop putting wet towels in the clothes hamper, there IS a towel hamper.
Whoever uses the last of the water in the Britta refills it.
People stop slopping coffee down the fronts of the newly painted cabinets.
Gas prices go down.
My purse is organized. I found SIX hairclips and five pairs of sunglasses in there the other day.
The pool is clean.
We get a new screen/storm door...make that two, one for the deck door, one for the front door.
We get new bathroom faucets, they are old and corroded.
We get a new roof.
We finish replacing the falling apart windows.
We do something about the broken tiles in the kitchen...a whole new floor would make me happy.
The ice maker in the freezer gets fixed.
The window on the van gets fixed. (Paul ordered the part but it's the wrong one)
The window in the kitchen, oh don't get me started...it's the wrong window, Paul made it fit, and the sheetrock around it..ugh.
My teenagers treat me with respect each and every day.
My family totally realizes how much I actually do to make this place function.
My knees stop hurting. One of them is being a total jerk, acting up and aching and giving out.

I could add new Birkenstocks and lower or no medical insurance deductible, but that would be greedy.

It's the biggest trip up, isn't it? The old, "I'll Be Happy When...".

Because it just ain't true. Look at millionaires and billionaires. Are they actually any happier? I remember when Paul and I were first married, saddled with huge student loan payments. I didn't work after Emily was born, and we were pretty broke for a few years. We lived in a mobile home, had our car payment, and spent $30 a week on groceries. I had, and I am serious, about three pairs of underwear. We got a used washing machine, and had no dryer for years. But we were happy. We didn't have much, we never went out to eat, we were happy.

Money CAN buy happiness, of course it can, a good Labrador Retriever pup costs upwards of $600, right? And vet bills. :)

But there is this lie, this lust, that is never satisfied, that always wants the next thing on the list.

Last year when my kids pitched in and paid for our new deck, which Adrian and Sam and some of the other kids built, I told them that they never ever have to get me anything again, they are set for life as far as birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day...it was the best gift. It hasn't worn off yet, either.

But I was like that when we first moved into this house....I remember pinching myself to prove that it was real. I was overflowing with happiness. Years passed, stained carpets and rickety windows and broken closet doors happened, and where did my thankfulness go?

Anyway. Things don't have to be perfect in order to be happy. We are gifted with a drive to make things nice, and that's a good thing, but to be content with what we have is golden.

It IS nice to improve things though...we spent yesterday afternoon coating the deck with waterproofing coating, and talk about tedious work! Those little railing spindles, oh dear! We still have to do the backs of one section, which Jon couldn't reach on the ladder. And this morning we are going to give the decking part a second coat, and the stairs. Oh, yesterday I was working on the stairs. I had started at the top and one of my daughters was doing the trim/railing below me, and I don't know what she was thinking, but she painted the bottom steps. There I was, in the middle of the stairs, painted in. If I were small and nimble, no problem, but I had to step on those stairs to get down, no leaps for me. I touched them up a bit, and of course some bad puppies made prints on them anyway, but oh dear, what was she thinking?

It was quite a project. Emily, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Char, Cam, and cousin Danielle all pitched in. Ashley was here with Elise and Anya, Lydia was here, little Anne was here, Margaret was here with baby Wulf. We spent the entire day outside, what gorgeous weather. Our sidewalks and driveway are covered in chalk...

It DOES feel nice to accomplish getting the deck protected. Trying to find a string of nice days, and fit it into our schedule, and actually getting it done, wow. I'll take some pics of it later.

Adrian built a flower box/raised bed planter thing for Evelyn the other day, in no time flat, using the old deck lumber. It looks SO NICE. And the front porch is finished, too. I won't lie, I do love the little upgrades, improvements. But I like to revel in them, enjoy them, and not just want more!

Life should be reveled in, and enjoyed.