Dear Reader:

Yesterday when the blog on “Big Red” went out Cindy Ashley asked me if I had read the “Happiness Project” yet…I have not but I do remember it was an answer on the game show Jeopardy, no less.

Cindy said in the book the first chapter starts setting the path for happiness with ‘purging stuff.’ Exactly what I am doing. And to tell you the truth…it does make me happy…When I got up yesterday morning and walked in the computer room I started grinning from ear to ear….(This room was starting to torment me with guilt feelings for having so many books that should be used by educators, teachers, students, book lovers but instead the books were just collecting dust…

I thought about the Nuremberg Trials and remembered the first excuse many defendants were prepared to use to  excuse their conduct in the concentration camps was “I was just following orders.” Once that excuse was thrown out as a legal defense…it was pretty much over.

I decided that my lame excuse for not getting control over all my years and years of book collecting and workshop clutter was starting…it was so overwhelming…I didn’t know where to begin.

But then once I got going and had thrown out a few bags of stuff…I started purging with the best of’ ’em!

Purge: To rid, clear, or free.  Ridding the computer room of hundreds of copies of old worksheets, notebooks, coursework requirements, obsolete paperbacks and textbooks was just so liberating! Even though I was really tired after Monday…I knew that if I kept at it Tuesday I could finish this mammoth project and I kept picturing how happy this would make me feel. And it did!

Even yesterday…when I walked back into the computer room to work on this blog post…I found myself smiling again. Jumbled thoughts felt like they had been purged too…instead my thinking was clearer and lighter.

One thing ‘little c’  has taught me is not to waste time with negative people…they only bring us down. It is okay to choose the company we want to be surrounded with…people filled with humor, fun, charisma, perseverance, and hope…people who lift us up like an air balloon.

We all get sad and down sometimes…that is normal…the people I find myself purging from my daily life are the eternal complainers, whiners and gloomy nay-sayers…the people who never see good in any situation and always look for the worst in people.

That is why yesterday it was so wonderful to be surrounded with the Ya’s, Linda and Betsy…all women of courage, hope, and optimism….besides just being downright funny!

California Dreaming here we come! This has gotten to be our birthday gathering place for Jackson and Betsy…Nov 16 and 18. We always have such a good time, the food is delicious, and the company the best…laughter and more laughter. Together we lift everyone to a higher level of happiness when we gather.

No matter how many serious medical/health obstacles have found one or more of us during the previous year…the slate is wiped clean and we are all convinced that the new birthday year is going to be the best year ever! And you know what? As long as we can all still gather the next year at the same time and same place…life has been at its very best!

*Have you ever seen so many shades of blue…Betsy and Linda went black but it looks like the rest of us called each other (like middle-schoolers) and decided to all go “blue” in dress but “bright red, yellow, oranges” in atmosphere! Happy official birthday today Jackson!

So until tomorrow…Good health and happiness go together so let’s all be just as happy as we can be!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Look Anne what is hanging on this wall at Jackson’s home….your adorable painting of Jackson’s tractor when she was five years old!