Daily Joy Log

A few posts ago I told you about the Mazda Miata that I once had and how much fun it was.

This is one of my favorite Miata moments.

We lived in a small sub-division in Boone,NC. Down the street lived an elderly couple Elizabeth and Thurman Tripp. They were always out on their front porch swinging after dinner, so we would stop by with our dog Gaylord and visit them.  Gaylord loved Thurman as he would always share his cookies with him. We soon adopted them as our Grandparents.

Ken would help Thurman with chores around the house  and Elizabeth and I would have tea. She showed me how to use one of those old fashioned contraptions to make apple sauce. It was like a funnel with teeth and a pestle. You crammed the apple in the thing and it grated the apples into sauce. I decided to buy one because it was such a novelty but soon found out that it’s a lot of work. It’s so much easier to buy the stuff in a jar.

The Tripp’s were lovely people. He was in his high 80′s and she was in her low 90′s. She was a lovely woman with gorgeous skin. I used to ask her what her secret was to staying so healthy and youthful looking. She would say “Ya just keep on going.” Simple enough.

I asked Elizabeth if she would like to take a ride in my Miata. Without a blink of an eye she said she would love to. I picked her up in my little white car ready to roll with the top down and she carefully climbed in. With a big smile on her face she took her little multi-colored babushka out of her handbag and wrapped it around her beautiful glistening white hair.  She looked like a  young school girl.

We made our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway and off we went, around the curves and up and down.  The wind was whipping around us and the sun was shining upon us. I looked over at Elizabeth and she was smiling up at the sky and then she let out a big “WHEEE!”

I am so happy that Elizabeth and I took that joyous ride together. She passed away shortly thereafter. I can still see her smiling.

It really is the simple pleasures that bring us joy, you just need to be aware of them. They’re all around us.

Experience Joy And Pass It On!

Just leave a comment below this post, or click here “WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY” and tell us what brings you joy.

I lost my mother-n-law Patricia Tuesday night to lung cancer.  I am glad that she is at rest now and that she has been released of the suffering.

I’m sitting here listening to Snatam Kaur and Krishna Das for comfort. It makes me cry but it’s lovely.

I had a wonderful relationship with my mother-n-law even though she lived twelve hours north of Toronto. I didn’t get to see her much. She loved to laugh and act like a silly girl. We had that in common.

The town she lived in was a small, quiet, northern logging community. I’m not sure what the locals thought of me. I used to ask Ken “Do you think I scare these people?” I was much more demonstrative and animated than most of the towns people.

One of my first visits to Kapuskasing Pat introduced me to lottery tickets. I had never bought one before so I dragged her into a convenience store to purchase my very first ticket. I bought my lottery ticket, got a penny from the clerk and slowly scratched off the silver patches that covered the numbers. Holy cow I won! Two dollars!

The actress in me came out and of course I wanted to create a scene so I shrieked  “OHHH-I won! I won!” making sure everyone in the place could hear me. Pat was so embarrassed but loved it, she laughed and laughed. We laughed together uncontrollably.

I have many stories of crazy things we did together. One time we put a piece of cosmetic sponge in her husbands oatmeal. We laughed so hard when it landed in his mouth. The look on his face was priceless. Boy did we laugh. He was such a good sport.

Pie crust. My pie crust always came out crumbly and fell apart. Pat taught me how to make the perfect pie crust. “It’s so easy” she would say as she cranked out five pies in a flash. I was trying way too hard. Now my pie crusts rock.

I think I’ll bake one in her honor and joyously eat it.

Experience Joy And Pass It On!

Just leave a comment below this post, or click here “WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY” and tell us what brings you joy.

Surprise! It’s A Car!

One of my most joyous moments was receiving a Mazda Miata for my 40th birthday.

Ken threw a surprise party for me at a friends house which was absolutely beautiful. They lived on twelve acres and had this beautiful home with lovely gardens. My friend was a caterer so you can imagine the lovely spread she had made for me, my family and friends. She went the extra mile to make it delicious and stunning.

After dinner, out came the wheel chair and a blind fold. I was wheeled around the house for a while and I’m thinking to myself “Uh oh, here comes the stripper. He’s going to do a lap dance on me in this wheel chair I just know it.”

Not so, they wheeled me outside and took my blindfold off. There it was, a white Mazda Miata that I’ve always wanted with a big bow on it. I couldn’t believe it. A sports car for me? It was so exciting and unbelievable.

It was beautiful, shiny, white, with black interior and fancy headlights that popped up. Very cool in my book. The car looked brand new even though it had 70,000 miles on it. It was a sports car convertible for me to drive around in that’s all I really cared about. Blue Ridge Parkway here we come!

Evening came, it was a very chilly night. We had a thirty minute ride home. “Get in mom, put your leather cap on we’re driving home with the top down.” We put our jackets on, I put the top down and cranked up the heat and off we went. I smiled from ear to ear the whole way home, just like a dog hanging it’s head out the window with it’s tongue flapping about. What a day, what friends, what a husband and what a surprise. I’ll never forget it.

I no longer have my little car. I sold it when we moved downtown five years ago. It was a lesson in detachment. I knew we didn’t need two cars so I chose to let go of it quite easily.

I must admit, on a beautiful summers day I really miss my Miata and my drives on the parkway by myself. There was something spiritual about it for me. A beautiful day, wind in my hair, the freedom to take a ride just me and Mona. I’ll tell you about her in my next blog post.

Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to own another sports car some day. For now, I’m grateful for the two strong legs that get me around town. It makes me happy that I’m relying on my own power for transportation most of the time and supporting the oil companies just a little less.

Experience Joy And Pass It On!

Just leave a comment below this post, or click here “WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY” and tell us what brings you joy.