OPINION
It's spring again! It's March 16, and I've already started writing my column for April.
It brings me joy that I just sent the March column off and I'm already working on April's.
Looking out my kitchen window at all the various colors of green as the leaves come out on the trees, the bushes, the flowers growing in the garden, brings me joy.
Hearing the migrating birds, along with those who remained through the winter, chirping and singing their happy little songs, brings me joy.
Hearing a child's laughter and giggles brings me joy.
Hearing my friend Jo's laughter at the community center brings me joy. Her laughter is so infectious.
Seeing the people exercising at the community center brings me joy.
Having a cup of coffee with a friend brings me joy.
Having a cup of coffee with a stranger brings me joy.
Calling a loved one and just saying nothing more than how are you, just wanted to say I love you, brings me joy.
It's the little things that happen throughout my day that keeps me joyous, brings fulfillment to my day and lets me end it at night with joy.
I recently stood on the sidewalk waving at cars while holding up a candidate's sign.
Holding that sign up for a friend brought me joy.
Every single car that went by and waved, brought me joy.
Even those who gave me a thumbs down (only two) gave me joy because they were exercising their freedom of
speech.
Hundreds of cars over those days, mostly strangers, waving to one another.
I hope it brought them some joy, also.
Life can bring us so many little sparks of joy and seldom do we realize or pause to think about those moments.
Take a deep breath. Stop for a moment and think of those sparks in your life that bring you joy.
Can you name 10 that happened the last day or two?
Perhaps we just don't pause long enough when those small, possibly insignificant, moments happen.
We all need to pause every day and reflect on those moments that bring us joy.
Those are the moments that can get you through a trying day.
Sit and think about all those colors of green out there just bursting out to give you joy.
I was at an awards banquet recently and our chef made the most wonderful tasting gumbo.
It brought joy to me.
It brought joy to me thanking her for that delicious soup.
I do have to point out that I think there's a difference between happiness and joy. I had a friend who used to say that she just wanted her children to be happy. Happiness to me is more of a momentary type of emotion where joy seems more deeply rooted in your soul and your heart.
I told her that I wanted my children to be joyous.
Perhaps we should start a new club. Remember the book and the movie 'The Joy Luck Club'?
We could meet once a month at a coffee house and discuss the small things in life that bring each of us joy.
It'll be different for everyone but there may be things that people mention that you never thought of that actually bring you joy.
I'm free Friday, May 1, at 11:15 a.m.
I will meet you at the Pilot Point Coffee House, if you're interested in sharing what brings you joy.
Let's go back to discussing eggs today.
Did you know that if you scrape the insides of your eggs, after breaking them open, that you will obtain an extra teaspoon to a tablespoon of egg, depending on the size of the egg you purchased?
If you're scrambling a dozen eggs and you used extra large, that's a whole lot of egg and probably would feed one extra person.
With the price of eggs these days, that could be a significant savings, especially to someone who's living on a moderate or fixed income.
Save some money and scrape those eggs, folks.
It may bring a little joy to your heart, also.
Saving money always brings joy to my heart.
Thank you for letting me share some of my joyous sparks in life with you.
It brings me great joy to write this column, and I’m hoping that it brings you sparks of joy.
Cindy “Mama C” Faris is a Pilot Point resident, and she is offering life advice for any who want it. She can be reached at [email protected].
