Moments of Joy

Thought I’d start with the Buzz around town: The hot thing to do in Albuquerque is make a 4-hour Pilgrimage  to Amarillo, Texas (not far from where I lived for almost five years as a kid!)  If you can handle the drive, their Civic Center's vaccination program is nationally acclaimed: apparently no lines, or fuss. (as Cindy Kohler and I joke, Amarillo has been waiting for its Big Moment; who knew this would be it?).  
 
On Wednesday (Jory’s birthday) Albuquerque gifted us with a move from the “red zone” to the “yellow zone” (Phase 1 for Angelenos).  Schools open when we’re in the “green zone”. Grateful we are heading in the right direction, but remain as cautious as ever.  (Am I alone in always thinking of those who died in the last few weeks of any big war??!)
 
The other thing that’s trending in the Big A: the weather. It was a perfect 60 degrees for Ty to feed the ducks on Monday. This coming Sunday, it will be 23 degrees (high; low of 8) with 6 inches of snow forecasted. Perfect Valentine’s weekend by the fireplace with beef stew, movies, popcorn, and games.
 
Rounding out the Big A news, there’s a new locally-licensed driver on the roads (and after showing every form of ID known to man, my NM license will expire in 2029….when Lillie Grace is a HS senior!).
 
What boosted my focus this week: While I don’t usually do Facebook challenges, Lauri Lee sent one my way that brought me tremendous delight. She challenged me to post 10 photos in 10 days that bring me joy – no explanations given. This caused me to scroll through the thousands of photos on my phone for ten days and realize how much beauty there is, how much fun we’ve had.  
 
On a deeper level, it made me replan my day every morning, to be aware of how I can create moments of beauty or joy that day.  Sometimes I stumble upon these moments of happiness (finding Tyler singing his favorite song, “Beautiful Boy” to himself); often times I orchestrate them (special dinner with planned conversation topics).  The point is to give them the same focus and importance I give to the “must do” stuff every day.
 
I want to savor these small moments of bliss and try to capture them, as I see from so many of the photos on my phone, how quickly things change.  
 
Here’s a few photos of joy that did not make the 10-day challenge….