Sunday, May 3, 2015

Catching the Small Joys--May Flowers Edition

Spring has finally sprung.  The joys have sprung along with them.  Here's a few of the things that have filled my heart this week:



  • The Evil Genius has struggled the first two terms of school this year. It really, really bothered him--way more than it bothered me or My Personal Chef. It has been hard to watch him beat himself up so much. Report cards came home this week and he made highest honors.  All his grades are up, but his science grade went up EIGHT percentage points. As we say in our FabFam:  Commence Smarty Pants Dance!
  • When discussing how to celebrate his hard-earned success, the Evil Genius asked for dinner at his favorite restaurant, with some of MY dearest friends. (Each of them are Smarty Pants in their own rights, who have been wonderful, nurturing examples for my nerdy,old soul son.)  That they happily obliged means more to me than I know how to express.
  • Because the Evil Genius is on a roll, I also had the absolute delight to watch him perform as part of the Massachusetts Music Educators' Association 43rd Annual Central District Junior High School Music Festival.  It is very competitive to get a seat in one of the ensembles. So, he was feeling pretty good about himself, just for making it. Having sat through years and years of student performances, my expectations were, um, realistic. I was blown away. The performances weren't good middle school performances.  They were good--really, really good--performances. 
  • An impromptu trip to Newport rewarded me with this incredibly joyful sight:  two busloads of high school students testing out their engineering skills with their homemade kites.


  • The incoming president of my Rotary Club asked me to serve as the emcee for her installation banquet. I am deeply touched and truly honored. 
  • Because I've been sick, I haven't been an active Rotarian in months and months. So, it was pretty awesome to return the week the first of the Woonsocket Rotary Days events kicked off with a spectacular Touch-a-Truck Festival.  The biggest joy?  Going for my first hot air balloon ride.


Photo courtesy: Kevin Greenough
  • I scored big on an outing to my favorite thrift store this week. My $13.00 haul included a spectacular hot pink and tangerine psychedelic tie for My Personal Chef (seriously, I think this trippy thing can be seen from space!), the cutest basket-weave purse ever, and brandy-new Clark's clogs for $5.00.  (I found them on their website for $85.00.)  I know not everyone gets a thrill out of thrifting.  That's fine.  Go ahead and write your own list of joys.  Okay? 
  • My tulips opened up this week.  Of all the flowers in my garden, the tulips bring me the most joy, because they require the most faith.  I plant them in the fall, hoping they will survive my lackadaisical planting technique, my yard of foraging critters, and the long New England winters.  This year's batch exceeded all expectations. I'm just delighted.


What has filled your hearts this week?

3 comments:

  1. Well, it's been a rough week so far (seriously, it's GOTTA get better!), but the best thing was that I learned our new mortgage company has infinitely more common sense than the previous one. Our land is technically two adjacent parcels, with our house on one and the other undeveloped. Well, the previous mortgage company would not include the taxes for the undeveloped parcel in our escrow, so I would have to haul my ass down to the county building twice a year (most people do so because the county treasurer's office tends to lose mail), find a parking space and pay to park (don't even get me started on this), and pay my $50 property taxes in person. But this year I discovered that the new mortgage company included the undeveloped parcel, so I don't have to go down to the county building to deal with taxes ever again! Seems minor, but seriously, it's huge.

    Also, my daughter made me a mother's day card that is absolutely adorable. Seriously, she drew a turtle that looks like Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb. I'll keep it forever.

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  2. Thanks for sharing these with me. Here's to a better week ahead--for both of us! Happy Mothers' Day, Stephanie!

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