Little things

I had a couple Moments last week, when everything was perfect and in my mind and emotions there was only space for pure, wordless happiness. Such highs!

I just really like this photo. It's not directly related to my post, except maybe it makes me wanna buy some expensive cheese and go camping, and I do those things somewhat regularly out here.

The first one came on Sunday night, after an exhausting shift at work. I stumbled into the employee dining room around ten pm and had a snack before dragging my sore server's feet up the hill to the dorms. Like every other night, people were outside hanging out. I had to be at work at 6:30am and had every intention of going straight to bed, but for some reason, I knew I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning and I knew it would be a good time. I trust my instincts when it comes to sleep deprivation - if I don't feel like staying up, I don't (this is the case most of the time). But when I'm feeling it, I know it's going to be a good night. And lo and behold, twenty of us ended up sitting on the edge of the boat dock, on Jackson Lake, looking at the stars, laughing, singing-a-long. After a loud and passionate rendition of "You Are My Sunshine," I thought my heart would burst from joy.  And then, around 2am, a couple of boys jumped into the lake. My friend Allie and I followed. It was oh-so-cold and exhilarating.

The next Moment came a few days later, near the end of another exhausting shift working on the restaurant deck. I was busily cleaning my tables and checking on customers when I noticed people were coming outside with their cameras and I looked up and saw a particularly brilliant sun set. My co-server, Josi, and I put away our towels and extra ketchup bottles and sat down at an empty table and stared out toward the mountains. "I don't think I could ever work at another restaurant after working here. You just can't beat this," I said. Josi told me he's going to work at Signal for the rest of his life. A woman overheard Josi and started asking questions about our experience in the Tetons and at the end of the conversation she said, "I wish I'd done something like this."

And I know a fulfilling life doesn't just consist of sing-a-longs on boat docks and majestic mountain ranges and adventures. But those things sure do help.

This morning I started reading Anna Karenina and in the first chapter Tolstoy writes, "There was no answer except the usual answer life gives to the most complicated and insoluble questions. The answer is: carry on with your everyday affairs..."

A pretty little boxcar flower bed outside Nora's Fish Creek Inn, where we had Breakfast Club last Saturday morning. I got pretty excited about the breakfast and the boxcar.

I hope, even when I'm not living in the Grand Tetons, I always choose to live my life in a way that makes every day affairs whimsical and joyful... and even when my affairs seem dull, ordinary, or confusing, I hope I keep finding something to get excited about anyway.