Happy #111: How cleaning the garage brought me back to Happy Regardless.

Happy Halloween!!

So, apparently I wasn't finished writing about happiness... ;-)

Some time ago I signed off of Facebook because I felt invisible. Tragic, but true. If you're ever tempted to think your effort in another person's direction doesn't matter, think again.

Anyway, a month or two passed and my children requested I reactivate my account. So I did. But in the time I was off, remarkable things happened. Real connection with people I love. (Pictures included at the end of this post for you visual types...)

A surprise phone call announced my dear friend Marty (whom I hadn't seen for years) was flying into SLC on business, giving us the opportunity to see each other. It was the first time he'd been here since my move to SLC eight years ago. Our time together was precious and magical. I hiked him up to Ensign Peak so he could see the view and we ended the evening with a lovely dinner together. After I changed. :) Smiling, talking, laughing, sparkling, and thoroughly enjoying every minute, we were reminded of how much we love and miss each other.

Another surprise call brought the news my best friend from high school and her mother were coming to town to celebrate her mom's 90th birthday. It was the first time I'd seen Vicky's mother, Irene, in thirty years. This visit was significant for me. Irene Palmer took me in when I was 17 and had nowhere to go. I had returned to my mother's house one night to find myself locked out and my belongings stacked in boxes on the porch. Irene compassionately came to my rescue. There aren't words sufficient to describe the gratitude I feel for this woman and her Christlike love. Irene was a powerful example of goodness to me. Her gesture may have seemed small and simple to her. But it meant everything to me and has profoundly influenced my life.

Delightfully, I bumped into a a few friends in unexpected places. I heard from few other friends I hadn't heard from in awhile and a couple of family members made contact. All bringing me to see I wasn't so invisible after all.

Real connection. The most meaningful kind. People who care about me reached out and connected with me. And I felt their love.

Connect with the ones you love, people. Because you never know when someone you really care about is feeling invisible. And it's a horrible thing to feel.

In the midst of all this beautiful and real connection, I decided to tackle the chore I've been trying to face for the last eight years and clean my freaking garage. No. Small. Thing. For several reasons. A huge thing, truth be told.

And this experience, the process of cleaning my garage, is what brought me back to my Happy Regardless blog.

I tried to write about love in my Love Life blog. But I think love may be something I write about later. When I'm older and wiser about love. Like when I'm 90. ;-) What I have learned is that love begins with self respect. And something I realized, while cleaning my garage, I haven't had very much of. :(

Respect is the foundation of love. And self respect is essential.

So we're back to happiness. Because the truth about happiness is that it begins with self respect, the basic and most essential ingredient for self love. And it's self love that makes happiness possible at all.

That doggone garage turned out to be something really spectacular. It was full of lessons to show me that sometimes falling apart is the only way to find the answers we need to grow into the good in store.

Process. Life is never really about the outcome.

So on we go. To giving that creates real connection, self respect, self love, and happiness. And whatever comes next. ;-)

Love to you.
Kathleen