The World According to Angela

So I'll admit to you, Internet, I have a pretty significant personality flaw.

I like happy people.

I like to see people happy, I like to try and make them happy, and in fact, just pure happiness can bring me out of any bad mood.  Something as easy as a 2 year old shaking their booty just to get a laugh out of anyone watching...or a bubble that lands smack on someone's head but doesn't pop...or even an out of place fart!  Just something unplanned, something that exibits that special "I'm really laughing" laugh. 

Or to be an adult for a moment, cooking something for friends/family and watching them truly enjoy what they are eating.  After all, good eating should be an art - something to enjoy - not just something to do.  Yep, when I win the lotto (ha ha), I won't hire a chef, I will become one.  There is real satisfaction for me to take the time to make something healthy and yummy that also tastes good...and ultimately, makes people happy.

Unfortunately, such a "happy" thought comes with many consequences.  Everyone is unique, and quite honestly, it's goddamn hard to make anyone happy!  I've learned to deal with most of this the best I could over the years, as well as trying to use this 'flaw' to my advantage.  That comes with a lot of internal discipline: best said very hard, and at times, impossible.  It's especially difficult now that I am a parent.  You cannot possibly be a good parent while also keeping your children with a constant smile on their faces.  With that, I'm fine.  I am actually pretty good about drawing the line and plenty stubborn enough to stick with my guns.  I know the importance of saying what you mean and mean what you say.  But DAMN if that doesn't tear me up sometimes.

And every age is a challenge.  I wonder what if I only had one 7 year old?  Would there be the same energy and crazy-feeding-off-of-the-sibling action that we have?  Some days it's just clear - they just feed off of each other.  So why is that a bad thing?  They have a bond like we'll never understand.  That is a special thing for them.  Sometimes I think back to Star Trek and they are 1-of-3, 2-of-3, 3-of-3 for sure.  That does make me happy that they have each other that way.

But other days....wow.  It's hard.  Most of the times it's great, so I'm just going to talk about the hard today because it does exist.  Both Aaron and I work, we don't have family that can help nearby, and we have a lot on our plates.  We have a lot to face every single day.  There is no coasting.  We do the best we can all 24 hours of 365 or 366 days of the year.  And the thing about us both - one key reason why we'll be celebrating 12 years of wedding bliss soon - is because we can both be human.  We both try so hard to do the best we can and keep everyone happy, but it's a lot of work.

It's a LOT OF WORK.

But I remain confident that it is all worth it.  And as ironically hard as it is to be happy, everyone should try that approach as often as you can.  It makes everything a bit easier.  Not saying any of it is easy, but hell, there have to be worse personality traits....