Day Five

Day Five: Something that excites you and fills you with joy

I am having the hardest time with this prompt. It's not that nothing excites me or fills me with joy. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I find that I can find joy in the smallest places. A warm day when the sun is out and people smile and you can't help but smile back. Driving on the highway with the windows down and the music up with nowhere to go and all the time to get there, not caring if cars who pass you hear you singing as loud as you can. Snuggling up for an extra hour under the covers with a bunny and book (and trying to get the bunny to stop trying to eat the book). Waking up in the bed of the woman you love, her arms around you, your head resting against her bare chest. Playing in the snow. Saying hello to tiny flowers. The smell of bookstores.

That's summing me up right now. Tiny shivers of joy. Small, seemingly inconsequential moments. Repetition of anything, even something exciting becomes mundane. It's the new, the constantly learning, constantly feeling that brings me joy. Joy is in the smallest flower, the cloud shaped like a mouse, a used book with a touching inscription to people you don't know.

I don't try to find joy. Joy finds me. I leave myself open to it and it happens. It shows up, beautiful and...there. Sometimes once a week, sometimes ten times a day, it finds me.

And while this song isn't particularly about joy, something about it for me, just opens up snapshots of those moments. Dar Williams-"Southern California Wants to be Western New York". Plus, she's really adorable when she messes up. Lyrics