As promised...

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Happy

I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that make me happy. I get a lot of joy from making other people happy, and my cookies have been so great for that! I’ve lost track of my March orders (you should see my calendar!) that I’m not sure where I am in terms of fundraising. All the money goes to a special spot, and at month’s end I  pile it all together and send it off to FPWR. We’re definitely over a thousand dollars, which was my goal for the whole year! To be honest, after Easter I’m hoping to slow things down a lot. I have a real job, and kids, and other things to do.

I have been thinking about happiness, because on our block there is a little boy, Connor, who is dying of brain cancer. He is three. Our community has been outstanding at raising funds for the family, so that the parents can spend as much time with Connor as possible. I baked 4 dozen cookies, and raised $430 for them. That was amazing, but sad at the same time.  I think about Connor constantly.

Jason and I were talking about Connor’s diagnosis, and I brought up that any of us could have our life snuffed out tomorrow. All it takes is someone not paying attention at the wheel of a car! What that family has, is what most of us don’t get, advanced notice that the end is near. If you knew that your life, or the life of someone you love, was ending soon, wouldn’t you spend as much of the time you had surrounded by the people you love, doing the things that you love? Why don’t we all do this?

I started baking because it’s something that I really like to do. I’m doing it too much to enjoy every moment, so I’m going to take the summer off. Maybe not off completely, but definitely down from the 4-6 orders I have had every week for the past month.

For the past two days, the weather has been glorious in Vancouver. Stunning. I have a long list of cookies to bake and decorate, but they need my full attention. I have off cookie days, where I don’t want to be doing them, and it shows. I’ve learned that if I’m not in the mood, it’s better to wait until I am. I definitely don’t think I could do this as a full-time gig.

Because the weather was so lovely, we started working in the garden. Jason mowed the lawn, and I cleared the flower beds. He built my vegetable boxes for the backyard, and I installed my Mason bee house. Yesterday, we stopped at the nursery, and bought the soil and compost to fill the boxes, which I did. I also marked out the planting grid, and installed a trellis for the climbing plants. We started on a HUGE project of straightening out the back flower bed, to reclaim grassy play space for the kids’ new climbing structure. We replanted about a hundred plants, and pruned, and weeded. I had a grin on my face the whole time. I loved every minute of working the ground. It was intensely therapeutic.

I can’t wait to plant everything, to watch it grow. I am so looking forward to hanging my clothes on the line again, and tending to my veggies, while the kids race around the yard.

Ellie is amazing, as ever. She is adventurous and talkative. Right now she’s sporting a scuffed up nose, thanks to a face-plant off the side of a slide at the park. She’s full of personality, cheeky, and hilarious. I can’t believe she is turning three is a little over a MONTH. WHAT?!! I’m not ready, I can’t believe the last year has gone by so quickly.

I’m looking forward to spring break, and to having time together as a family. I love that Jakob loves school, but I miss him so much, and he is maturing so much. He can understand so many words in French, and is starting to be able to hold simple conversations.

I have photos to upload once my laptop stops updating.

 

My goal for the next month is to do something that makes me happy, every day. Life is too short to waste doing things that don’t!