1) Planning for Adventures
Actually, this makes me both happy and sad. I have no patience. But planning out all of the things I want to do and see and explore, reminds me of how incredible the world God created for us is. How big it is! The chance to go out and see all of it should create joy in all of us.
2) Laughter
If I’m not being funny and making people laugh, then I don’t know who I am anymore. I just about had an existential crisis when I was travelling in Britain because people wouldn’t laugh when I made a joke.
The same thing happened when I was doing announcements for my church. I would make a joke and stand there in silence for a moment. “Someone please laugh.” No one would and I would start to panic. “Am I not funny anymore? Did I lose my only superpower? I don’t know who I am without this.” Fortunately for my sanity, my friend Nate told me after church one day that it wasn’t that my jokes weren’t funny but that they were too clever for my audience. I chose to believe him.
3) My friends.
This should really be number one but I’m not really going in order. I am just listing them as they come to me.
I have great friends. I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most incredible people in the world through camp, through my church, through school. My friends are a great blessing in my life because I know I can trust and depend on them. If you cannot honestly say that your friends make you happy, you should consider why and consider what will make you happy.
4) Hiking
I have learned incredible things on the mountains, usually that I can do something hard. Knowing that I am strong and capable definitely makes me happy.
5) Action Movies
My grandmother does not like action movies. She calls them violent. She’s not wrong. Most action movies are kind of violent but they are also epic struggles of good and evil. The fight for life and survival. Those are my favorite kinds of stories. Victory over impossible circumstances are what we watch and read stories for.
6) Dogs
If dogs don’t make you happy, I don’t know what is wrong with you. Dogs are delightfully happy and content to love and be loved.
7) Cats
Cat’s are not like dogs. They are not content to just love and be loved. They are, however, the most loyal creatures I have ever met. I will never love anything or anyone as deeply as my cat loves me. I had a cat once who knew my voice, when she was staying with my parents and I would call them, she would search for me because she knew it was my voice. You have to earn a cat’s love and respect but when you do, you will always have it.
8) Elephants
Is it so much to ask that I just want to go to Africa and play with elephants?
9) Photography
I came late to photography. Most of the people I know who like photography learned when they were in high school. I learned in my late twenties after a particularly tumultuous time in my life. And I am good at it. Much like my love for stories, I enjoy the way a photograph tells you something, especially candid photography.
10) Stargazing
You know what I get to do soon? I get to go to Iceland and see the Northern Lights. There is something so incredible about stargazing, seeing how big the universe is. Looking up at the stars and knowing that they are the same stars each of you are seeing, is pretty incredible.
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