I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about happiness this week, partly because during Christmas I had a monster of a cold. You don't get any lower than at four in the afternoon you walk out in a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms you've worn for the past three days carrying your blanket to get your mail, then you see one of your neighbors who smiles at you and then steps back a bit to make sure she doesn't get what you have. Did I mention the pajama bottoms had jelly stains?

However, I thought about being happy. I tend to be a positive person. One time I answered the phone at the library and the woman paused for a moment, then said "I'm sorry, I was just surprised by how happy you sounded." I also thought about something I read years ago on a message board debating same-sex marriage, when a person said "Life is not about being happy." True. I've gone through many happy periods in my life, along with sad times as well.

With each period, I try to remember a quote by Theodore Roethke: "I learn by going where I have to go." Sad times and happy times,I've learned from them both. However, if you can't carve out happiness in your life somehow, then brothers and sisters, you better start learning.

If I had to tell a stranger what makes me happy just for today, I would tell them this:

1. I'm going to see Florence Henderson next week with Huntington Sharp (thanks Ivory and Abe!)

2. Trader Joe's chocolate-covered cherries.

3. My niece singing "My Favorite Things" in the car. Sing it with me folks: "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...."

4. The purring of my three cats.

5. Playing Sorry! with my nephew.

6. The song "Oh Happy Day" by The Edwin Hawkins Singers.

7. The brand new library in Lafayette.

8. I'm going to catch a sneak preview of The Lovely Bones with my friends Meranda and Joyce next week!

9. Drinking tea at Peet's.

10. I signed up for a great gym near my house.

11. Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas album.

12. Once again, Vince Guaraldi—only this time, his song "Cast Your Fate to The Wind."

13. Susan Browne's poem "A Chance Meeting" is featured on Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac today!

14. A new nephew is making his debut in April!

15. My friend Lilly-Marie is finally on Facebook. Okay, she might not get any writing done, but I can write on her wall and "poke" her as much as I want!

16. Next month in January, the daffodils will start to bloom. In case if you don't know, daffodils are my favorite flowers.

17. The peace sign I can see in my neighbor's back yard.

18. The Beatles singing "Dear Prudence."

19. Sock Monkey Pajamas.

20. The fact I work at Red Room, and I found my tribe.

Twenty things for December 30, 2009. Not bad if I don't say so myself.