July Photo Challenge: Happy

PJ’s photo prompt this month is Happy. Happiness is a strange thing. I know people who seem to be happy all the time. Whether it’s genuine or not, I don’t know. I think there’s a difference between feeling happiness and feeling joy. For me, happiness is primarily circumstantial while joy is something that transcends the immediate situation. Lots of things can make me happy….in the moment. Joy is something deep in my soul I can take with me anywhere that is not dependent on whether or not I’m happy at that particular moment. And, let’s be honest, there is very, very little to be happy about in our world right now.

Since the grand girls are gone every summer for their dad’s visitation, July is typically not the *happiest* month for me. But, when I stopped to think about it, there are things around me that do bring happiness to my life…even in July.

Happy 1
Tops on the list was our anniversary dinner. It was #41 and we celebrated at our favorite steak house in town. This makes me happy because just a few short years ago when Entrepreneur was on chemo, I didn’t believe we’d see 40 years. Immunotherapy has given us more years together than we anticipated. Of course, not every moment with him is blissfully happy but we are thankful for the good and not-so-good time we have left together.

Happy 2
While I do love my feline fur baby, Cabo was intended to be my *buddy* when Entrepreneur was no longer here. He’s definitely a Mama’s Boy and when I’m feeling down, he’s always there to lend a sympathetic ear…..mainly because he. is. always. beside. me.

Happy 3
Gardening is hard. Gardening is frustrating. Gardening is disappointing. But, when it works, it’s rewarding and the fact I’m able to grow some of my own food makes me happy. This year was one of those frustrating, maddening, disappointing years as the bunnies ate ALL my green beans (three plantings worth) and I lost about a dozen ears of corn to squirrels/raccoons and to fungus because we had so much rain in June. We were able to pull about 70 ears and I’ll be extremely happy when the snow flies when I can open jars of frozen sweet corn.

Happy 4
Photography makes me happy. I’m by no means close to being a pro, but capturing moments in time with my family/friends is rewarding. Photography has also made me much more aware of my surroundings, and now I look for the uniqueness nature gives us every day. When I look closely at the intricacies and textures in nature, I always smile at how amazing our world is.

Happy 5
Related to #4, taking photos like these make me happy. This tests my abilities and when it works, I’m delighted! Photos like this are hard because the subjects rarely sit still for their portraits.

I’ll close with a very appropriate video by Pharrell, simple called….Happy! I hope you can be happy as you watch and sing along.

Thank you to PJ for hosting this challenge every month. Be sure to visit the link up on Augusts 1st  to see what makes other people happy.