Happiness is....

Happiness is having my bff (best friend forever, in case you didn't know) around. We've been friends for a long time, and we're really too old to be cutesy about it...except that we are bffs. We clicked fairly soon after we met--and no, we couldn't tell you about it; there was too much weirdness about it. Suffice it to say freshman year of college, and we had a very special extended family for those four years. And we've never lost our connection. She lives pretty close to half a world away in Germany (the 6 hour time difference is actually a real problem) and I don't get to talk to her nearly as often as I'd like, but when we see each other, it's like we speak the same language, and we're the only two in the world who speak this particular dialect. So...
Happiness is having people to talk to who speak your language. I am fortunate to have many. Ben is one, clearly, as well as T. I work with one, and I have a couple in my family. I'm beginning to developed shared language/culture with some online friends, too, which is fun.
Happiness is really good food. Made a trip to Trader Joe's and spent a LOT of money on food. But I got great stuff, and stuff I can't get here, for really great prices, like really great half-salt cashews and spelt and whole grain tortillas and lite cheddar cheese snack sticks (like string cheese, only it tastes good) and crackers I can actually eat. It's hard work eating the way I have to. I can wuss out and eat nothing but salad and steak, but I don't have to. And with just a little care, I can have pizza every week or chocolate almost every day (a necessity in my opinion), as long as I'm a little bit careful. Which leads to...
Happiness is having to buy new clothes. Yep. I have to replace almost all of my spring summer clothes. Not because the ever-present mold and mildew got 'em, because it didn't. Not because we had some disaster and they all got ruined. They didn't. And some of them will go to be altered, because clothes are just too expensive, and I need new ones because the old ones are too big! This has never happened to me before. I've worked all my adult life to control my weight and been unsuccessful, so to finally have a handle on things makes me very happy. Very very happy, in fact. In fact, you might as well keep adding very's to that statement. I am having serious fun.
Happiness is knowing that I could go on and on today about all the things that make me happy. The WonderMutt. The Exceptional One (who turns 2 on Saturday). My church. School. The friends we've made here, and the ones we've kept from other places. But instead I'll end with this:
Happiness is meeting someone from church at a sale, on a weekday, during "normal" working hours, and hearing her say, "I'm so glad to see you here. You work so hard; you need to take a little time to do something fun." I needed it, and I'm so glad to have it.