noticing when you are happy

Kurt Vonnegut said "notice when you are happy."
Twice lately I've noticed times when I was happy, deeply happy.

I decided on Friday to take Roy Bean, my chubby, sweet, fluffy mutt on a run with me. The first mile was like we had stepped right into the land of joy and delight. Roy was happy, ecstatic, unstoppable. We were fast, super fast, and both of us were happy. Many times, people commented on how cute we looked running together, people waved at us and pointed from their cars. It was fun, pure, goofy fun. We ran this way for a mile and a half, until Roy got a bit tired and winded. We slowed down, but we didn't stop. On the way back, we slowed to a walk for a bit and smelled the wildflowers off the trail and drank a little water before taking off again. A biker saw us and grinned and waved like he knew us. When we got home, I took Cowgirl out for a run around the hood. Her little sideways scoot is super fast and she too was delighted to be taken for a run. I'll do this more often.

Tonight, I took my xl1 to a local mobile home park to document a woman who is moving from homelessness into her own RV. I didn't know if I'd know her, but I did. She was one of the ladies in the cold weather shelter the night I volunteered this winter. She was a frequent visitor to Trinity, too. Tonight she gave me a tour of her new home and showed me where she was going to put some tomato plants and the window over her kitchen where she sees the sun come up in the mornings. She was surrounded by friends and barbecue and neighbors and for the second time this weekend, I felt it, deeply, luckily, happy. Sometimes things work out.

Off to L.A. tomorrow, late night of packing and prepping.