Happiness lately

I have been really focused on happiness lately.  Selfishly, my own.  Ben's new job ad new hours really threw me for a loop for a few weeks, and I really struggled to get into a good routine.  I felt like I was failing at all aspects of my life pretty much all at once, and it was really hard for us to get into a groove.  Luckily, hockey ended, and we had a nice, fat gap of down time between hockey and the start of baseball/soccer, which made all of us better able to figure ourselves out.

Concretely, here are some things that are making me happy:

1.  My fall course, which will be fully 1000% prepped by June 12, which is the day the kids get out of school.  This class used to be a daunting source of angst and imposter syndrome, but I just dove in and wrangled it into something manageable and -- dare I say--  fun.
2. SUMMER!  I can't wait for the pool! Long lazy days! Teaching online (that class will also be fully prepped by June).  I have a goal to go to the library weekly, to write by myself out of the house 3 times a week, and to do a book club with the kids-- if my plan for this works, I will, of course, blog about it all over the damn place.
3.  SPEECH CAMP:  This is related to #2, but 3 of my old speech friends and I are spending 2 weeks in Peoria running camp, and I cannot even wait!  It's the camp I attended as a high schooler, where I met Ben and some of the people I am still friends with today, and where the trajectory of my whole life sort of came together, assembled itself into the path I have walked.  SO, NO PRESSURE.  Just managing a formative experience for a bunch of high schoolers.
4.  #amwriting:  I am working on my book again and loving it.  I have a revision google doc open next to me as I write, and when I get editing ideas or fin d old threads that won't come together, I am using the doc like a mindfulness worry balloon and putting these things there and letting them go.  For now.  This helps me clear the stench of failure from my nose and just put my head down and write.
5.  Lunches.  I am making a conscious effort to fill up my lunch calendar, and I lurve it.  Even on the Whole 30, which is a different post for a different day.
6.  Date nights.  Even if we are just going to watch baseball together.
7.  Acupuncture:  This has ben YUGE for me.  It makes me feel like me again, and I love having a cozy hour to meditate or solve an intellectual problem or sleep.  I am going weekly right now, but after 8-10 weeks, I am switching to a 1-2 times a month maintenance a schedule that will be lighter on my wallet.
8.  Bar trivia.  What can I say?  I love it.
9.  The adorable coffee shop by my (not available this semester) office that is perfect and adorable and a fun place to hold office hours since my own building is still uninhabitable.  I miss seeing my colleagues in the halls and in the mail room, and this place is somewhere to bump into friendly faces and have a perfect pour-over.

10.  The KIDS:  This seems nuts because I remember when they were tiny and taking care of them was basically all I could do without falling apart everyday.  Now, they are big kids who ca do all of the things by themselves and are funny ad mostly just plain fun.