Happinesses

[Eamonn]

I like Sundays.

If I haven't gone to mass on Sat. I like to get up early, go to church, come home, make a pot of coffee which I drink out of my "Sunday Mug". A slightly over-sized mug that OJ bought for me from the 2005 National Jamboree. As a rule I have two toaster pastries, not pop tarts, the other ones with the packs of icing. Then I sit in my recliner watching Sunday on CBS.

Ollie the English setter sits on my right, Dudley sits by my feet and Friday stretches out on her back on my lap so I can scratch her tummy.

When the show is over we go out on our big long walk.

Yesterday was great.

It was about 50 degrees with a fair wind. The birds were singing, Dud was having the best time chasing robins, Friday was sniffing all around the out-buildings looking for field-mice, rabbits or whatever, Ollie kept his eye on her just in case she found something, so that he'd be ready to jump in if need be.

I looked at the flower beds seen the shoots that were starting to come up, I gave all the new trees I planted last year a once over, looking for signs of new growth.

All this got me to thinking about being happy.

I think that I am happy.

I remember some time ago there was something? An ad for something which went "Happiness is a .."

I can't remember how it ended.

Any way, I got to thinking, what makes us happy?

How would you finish the sentence?

What are your happinesses?

I'll start

Happiness is coming home from work and being met by 3 dogs who are excited to see me and give me unconditional love.

Now it's your turn.

Please don't put down anyone else's happinesses.

This is just for fun.

Ea.

[OldGreyEagle]

I think Linus of Charlie Brown fame once said "Happiness is a warm blanket"

 

The District I serve had a Spring Hike Or Ree for the entire District, it was well attended. For me, Hapiness was a good walk in a State Park surrounded by youth enjoying the day

[packsaddle]

1. The sounds of my loved ones sleeping peacefully.

2. The smile on my grandchild when I arrive to visit.

3. Reading to my grandchild and enjoying every new adventure and discovery.

4. Listening to my daughter argue with her mother and understanding how much alike they are (but if I EVER say this out loud I really pay for it).

5. SAYING it out loud and paying for it.

6. Backpacking alone in some remote place where I cannot hear a highway or another person.

7. Knowing that between me and civilization stand only my own skills and wits against the risk of injury or death.

8. Watching microscopic dramas unfold in microscopic worlds through a microscope.

9. The look of new awareness and then shock as I destroy the illusions of students.

10. Sitting contentedly around a campfire with contented parents as their cubs romp over fields and lake and stream and forest, making sounds of joy and discovery.

11. My arrival, every time, as the plane approaches that wonderfully magical island of high mountains, waterfalls, cool streams, and welcoming people in the Caribbean..and I feel the weight of everything else lift as I enter paradise on this Earth.

12. The quiet, distant look on my students' faces as we wait to fly away from that paradise, as if the experience had been a wonderful dream...wishing to continue, hoping to return...

 

 

[pchadbo]

Happiness is. . .

 

spending time just "hanging out" with my kids. . .Scouts included or not.

[CalicoPenn]

To me, happiness is learning something new when not expecting to, like yesterday on a walk along the I&M Canal trail in Lockport, Illinois where a sign claimed that John Lane of Lockport invented the Steel Plow when "everyone" knows that John Deere invented the Steel Plow. Turns out that John Lane was using steel saw blades to clad iron plows 3 years before John Deere invented his steel plow. Considering that the distance between Lockport, Illinois and Grand Detour, Illinois is only about 90 miles, it doesn't take too much of a leap to wonder if John Deere had seen clad plows before he invented his plow.

 

Happiness, to me, is also learning something surprising that changes your perception of the world - such as learning that in the 1800's (and to this day), Amish quilters prefer using treadle sewing machines to sew their quilts while "English" (meaning non-Amish) quilters prefer to hand sew their quilts. I would have thought it to be the other way around. And that men might be better quilters than women because women are less critical of their friends efforts.

[John-in-KC]

1) Having time to love my God, to understand He is good, and that a consequence of His gift of salvation is there are useful/fun things for me to do.

 

2) Having time to love my son, to listen to the music he makes, and to know he is getting the key points of young adulthood.

 

3) Having time to be friends with many, to enjoy hobbies and activities with them.

 

4) Having time to be in the outdoors, whether it be a campout, a workday, or a lazy afternoon listening to the sounds of the forest.

 

5) Being able to listen to the great music of the age. I've come to truly enjoy wind band and brass band.

 

6) Having the skill to cook a medium rare Porterhouse, fresh corn on the cob, and a salad!

[thunderbolt]

Happiness is being able to help someone in need.

 

Happiness is also a computer that works all the time at its full speed!!!

[desertrat77]

Coming home...be it a year or a day's absence, good to be with family.

 

Cooking on the grill, in the back yard, right after mowing...a good beverage in the canteen cup, and some old country music on the AM radio.

 

Sleeping under the stars. (Close second: sleeping in a canvas tent.)

 

That first cup of coffee on the morning of a campout.

 

Campfire scent on a crisp clear night--especially juniper.

 

Seeing scouts thrive in the outdoors, same as the scouts of yesteryear--hiking, cooking, camping, boating, and other scoutcraft.

[Exibar]

happiness is...

 

hearing my son and Daughter laugh at my silly jokes (for some reason I just crack them up!)

 

coming home after a hard day at work to my family

 

Being Scoutmaster to my son's troop, teaching the scouts scoutcraft and giving them the chance to do things they never would have dreamed possible or have been able to do otherwise...

 

not having to discipline any scouts on a weekend trip (yes, it actually happened once!)

 

Mike B

[Eagle92]

Being told your 7 and 5 year old want to camp the entire weeklong trip to visit their grandfather. Not only to and from, but also in his back yard.

 

 

[sailingpj]

Happiness is anytime out sailing. That is when everything else just melts away and I can truly live completely in the moment. I just pick a place and enjoy the trip there. Of course I am even happier when I get to that place in front of 20 other boats.

[Old_OX_Eagle83]

Happiness is watching the stars slowly fill the velvet sky, while the evenings fire, dwindling to embers, warms my feet. Part of an informal circle of friends and loved ones. Exchanging recollections and impressions of how the scouts, now asleep just over the rise, met the days challenges, growing and maturing.

 

This is happiness

 

[red feather]

In the troop that I serve, personal responsibility and trustworthy are key.

 

Had a young gentleman tell ne something that I knew was not so. As a scout his word is good enough as his word is Trustworthy as a scout, even though I knew that what he told me was not correct.

 

Very little time passes and the young gentleman owns up to the lack of trustworthiness and corrects the issue in question.

 

Life lesson learned, personal Happiness for both of us.

 

yis

red feather