I’ve been thinking about a thread like this since spring, when I was on my treadmill thinking about the absolute perfection of my situation in that moment. It occurred to me that no one in my life can really appreciate what it is that lit me up about it, though they’ll nod and smile if I go on about it. Then I thought about TNation, where joyous pics of a new rack or belt ARE appropriate. I ran out of time that day, but I did take a pic before getting distracted. Here it is. What made me feel so grateful and happy include the beautiful flowering tree outside, the Bose speakers hung at my exact ear level, and the now-15-year-old treadmill that somehow keeps going (well, “somehow” includes occasional work by engineer who lives with me).
Not lifting stuff, but I thought the people here could relate to feeling 100% satisfied with one’s home gym for a brief moment.
I intend the thread to be about any happy thing, though, which is why it’s in Off Topic.
So, what reminded me of the thread today is that yesterday was the one year anniversary of starting my practice. A lot makes me happy about that (total win monetarily…I’ll cover my business partner in the “Things That Piss Me Off” thread). My husband is out of town for work and I discovered two things when I got home; one was flowers and a card that said things that made me feel good right down to my toes, and the other was that he cranked the heat in the bedroom up* and closed the door to keep it contained (which closed door actually creeped me out a little because it’s never like that, but anyway). We’re very conservative with heat, so it was a splurge.
My happy? My kids. I’m sure many parents feel similarly, so I won’t bang on about it, but I feel happier coming home from work and getting jumped on by those two happy little bundles than any pornstar and beer filled teenage fantasy I could ever have imagined.
So depending on who can get to day care first between me and my wife is who picks him up from day care. I’ve talked to my wife about his reaction when he sees her vs when he sees me there to pick him up, and it’s the same reaction.
Anyway, when I walk into the toddler room at his day care and he looks up and sees me, he drops whatever he’s doing and runs his cute little run over to me to give me a hug and to be brought home. It’s the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Great feeling.
I approached it with the question, “When you pick up from school, what does he do?” with the thought in mind I’ll say “Oh yea me too” if it’s less enthusiastic than how he greets me…it wasn’t so I felt good haha
My wife gets a little sensitive when he shows preference for me over her - it’s rare he does, but when he does she tends to ask “Do you think he likes me” … to which I point out the times he prefers her over me and she feels better…
Go ahead and laugh at the gym selfie, but this is the only picture I have on my computer of my home gym. It’s 24’ X 20’ of solitude and decompression from the daily grind. It makes me happy. I’m also quite happy with our current stage of life; we have been “empty nesters” for a year. We love our kids, and we absolutely treasure the time we get to spend with them as adults, but the freedom is AMAZING! It’s like we’re teenagers, except with our own money and a little bit of good judgement (but not so much as to be boring).
We’re both pretty aware by now that little man prefers me and little lady prefers her. I try not to make a big deal out of it, it will probably change as they grow
My dad spent his precious National Holiday vacation to fly over from Shanghai to see me two weeks ago, and last weekend, my mom flew over for Family Weekend
seriously, my dad’s company’s planning to go public, so he’s been grinding pretty much non- stop.
My mom also works pretty much 24/7 managing customers for her education company. She barely looked at her phone when she was with me!!!
Here’s the kicker: they felt guilty for taking away from MY time!!!
They also give me an INSANE monthly allowance (that I haven’t really used)
Seeing my kiddo really thrive and accomplish at school. He picked up multiplication and division and has been playing with that since August. His teacher has given him “enriched” homework and is really excited about his abilities, and he’ll be screened/tested for the gifted program shortly.
Most importantly though- he’s having fun with it. He sat down last night, leaned against me and read me a couple of stories. When he was done we just hung out like that for a while.
