Middle NZ: Happiness is not hard to find

A picture by my granddaughter makes me happy.

COMMENT
Mr Neat asked me to write about something happy today.

So as we approach our first week in our strange new world of bubbles I'm going to tell you and show you what has made me happy this past week.

First the photos. The flowers are from my garden. There's not a lot left in it at the moment but on Sunday I managed to pick enough to fill a vase. As I'm typing this I can see them — they make me happy.

The second picture is a drawing that my 8-year-old grand-daughter did. I visited her home a few days before I went to Australia for Christmas. She and her sister were going through their pictures they had brought home from school to give me some to take to their aunts.

When I spied this one I claimed it for myself and framed it. Whenever I look at it (which is every day) it makes me happy.

It makes me extremely happy that Mr Neat has a big shed and loads of "projects" to finish.

It makes me happy to see all the people working past the house. Lots of kids chattering and laughing and most likely looking for bears.

I have put a bear in the window to join the big bear hunt. At first I got a very strange look from the other person in my bubble but after a couple of days the bear was named Wallace and was getting a little pat on the back when it was time to come in out of the window.

This bear had been languishing at the bottom of the toy box for years.

I'm sure he loves looking out at the world every day — Wallace makes me happy.

Going for a walk around my neighbourhood also makes me happy. Yesterday I went around 12.30pm and there were so many people out and about.

Everyone kept their distance — I actually walked down the middle of the road because there was absolutely no traffic.

That makes me very happy. People obeying the rules and staying in their neighbourhood.

Talking to my family and friends on social media or over the phone makes me happy.
Seeing my work colleagues at Zoom meetings makes me happy.

Flowers from my garden make me happy.

Listening to birdsong while I'm working makes me happy as does taking a stroll around the garden during a work break.

I'm very, very happy that I live in New Zealand. A message from my daughter in Australia made me wish all my family were here. The message said "Our Prime Minister just said all retail stores can stay open as you may need to go and get essential items such as puzzles - he is such a dumb ass."

So let's just be thankful that our Government has gone hard and early to save our lives.

While it's really important that we all stay informed about what's happened just try to take one day at a time, look out for your neighbours and find the little things around you that make you happy.

Take care.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.