Saturday, June 8, 2013

Let the Joy Flow Through

A wonderful day, I must say!  Yesterday was rainy and dark, which is usually a trigger for some good size aches and pains.  I made it through with low scale discomfort and a good attitude.  One of the things that really helped my attitude was knowing that I had something to look forward to.  Today, there was a birthday party for my cousin, whom I haven't seen in almost a year.  I was excited to travel to see family...lots of family, but also concerned with the weather.  Knowing that rain and cold often trigger a flare, I didn't want to over commit.  I was concerned that the 2.5 hours to drive there would do me in.  I was also thinking about my Mom.  She was planning to go, but I also know that, like me, she needs to cancel last minute due to flares.  She called me yesterday, just to check in and talk about the traveling.  She told me that she heard the weather was going to clear and she was going to the party.  Not that she was probably going, that she was going.  She said that she was really looking forward to seeing family who we don't see as often as we'd like.  My mom, she's a great woman!  She said exactly what I needed to hear and I decided that I was going too, no wavering.

So, today, I gathered my daughters (Zyon and Ray had plans) and we set out on our road trip.  The party theme was luau and we were asked to dress for the theme.  Continuing with my positive attitude, we stopped, on the way, to pick up our grass skirts and lei's.  The drive was fun with music, girl talk, travel games and attempts to get other travelers to join in on our dance party.

When we got there, I adorned my grass skirt and lei, Jordan passed on the dress-up part and Hannah carried her lei in and eventually put it down on a table.  There were others at the party with some luau themed wear, but the best was my cousin, Guy.  He and I were the only party goers in grass skirts.  He and I were also best buds when we were kids.  My mom tells stories of the two of us always "being up to something".  The cousins, their wives and kids and grandkids, my aunt her guest and her son, my nephew and more were there.  Today, I felt connected.  My heart was open and reaching out to give hugs was easy and natural.  This isn't usually the case for me and I'm grateful that today I felt like me.

I truly enjoyed watching the kids playing together, talking, catching up and laughing.  I felt present to the people around and aware of taking it all in.  There was no overwhelm or shyness or self-consciousness at all.  Just my essence connecting with my family.  Pure joy.

The joy continued for the travels home with my girls stating that they love road trips.  We ate too much junk food, played the music loudly and they waved at cars for the first hour of the ride.  They enjoyed getting waves in return and most of the time people didn't wave and that was okay.  Then the game changed to dancing and trying to get others to dance along.  One car had all it's passengers bobbing their heads along with the beat of our music.  This got everyone laughing.  Connecting with strangers in a positive way really creates a wonderful energy.  I'm pretty sure that even those who didn't join in, but saw the crazy dancing going on in our car, may have gotten a chuckle out of it or a smile.

We stopped at the grocery store to get some healthy food to eat for dinner and we were all going to pick out what we wanted.  I got out of the car and walked around to meet Hannah (Jordan was getting tired and stayed in they car) and when Hannah saw me come around the car, still wearing my grass skirt and lei's, she crawled back into the car.  She was so embarrassed she wouldn't go into the store with me.  I told her I wasn't ready to end the party, but she wasn't going for it.  I did consider what it may be like for a 13 year old to go into the local grocery store with her mom in complete luau attire.  I took off my costume, and she came into the store with me.  As we were going through the entry, one of her classmates came out with his mother.  Hannah and I said 'hi', waited for the doors to close behind us and started to crack up laughing.  I thought, she must be really happy that I decided to take the grass skirt and lei off.  I could have caused a major event for the topic of discussion at school on Monday.

Today, I allowed the joy to flow through...and it felt so good, I didn't want to it to end.  So, tomorrow, I'm going to continue with expressing and experiencing joy and maybe I'll even go jogging in my grass skirt.

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