Happiness. To me its not something that can have a monetary value or should be taken for granted. I feel like every day I see more and more couples ‘faking’ their happiness. They cover up their dirt with fancy things which cost more than I could ever imagine spending.
Suddenly a $1000 vacuum cleaner takes the place of evening cuddles on the couch. $100 brushed Egyptian cotton sheets take the place midnight spooning, and the $4000 livingroom set takes the place of morning coffee together.
Life spins wildly around us every day and quite often scoops us up with it for the ride. We let ourselves get caught up in the mess of the day to day which quickly becomes the week to week…and before you know it, months have gone by. Suddenly we look back at ourselves and realize we have no idea what has become of our relationship with our significant other.
Maybe its now just a touch off of center, but all too often it becomes something unrecognizable.
Instead of measuring our happiness in smiles and laughter, we started measuring it in furniture and trinkets. We can no longer look at our partners in life and laugh for no reason or find the joy in just holding eachother.
I was there once. I believed that my happiness would only come with my husbands…which would only come with his need for money and the freedom to spend it. I had lost sight of myself and the things that made me happy. The laughter of my children. Lazy afternoons. The great outdoors. Music. Friends. It had all slipped away from me.
Two years ago I vowed to rectify all that. I wanted my simple life back. The life where I actually stopped to smell the flowers and enjoy myself and those around me. It took some digging and stripping and a whole lot of struggle but I’ve finally reached that point of happiness.
So now on Saturdays my house is filled with children’s laughter as they blow bubbles in the kitchen or tell tall tales on swingsets about how they once swung so high they went all the way around the poll. We have popcorn for dinner at least once a week and there’s an endless supply of cuddles at any given time as soon as you sit on the couch.
Laundry piles take over corners in the livingroom and dishes fill the sink as Sundays are now dedicated to doing absolutely nothing. And by nothing, I mean NOTHING. No plans. No schedule. Nothing.
Everyone, even the big kid, gets nightly snuggles and back rubs. Stories are read, yes even to the big kid, and songs are sung. Kisses are given so often that they have become as second nature as breathing and hugs have become our way of greeting eachother even when we pass through a room.
We have no money as bill collectors call daily and we struggle to keep the gas on and the phones connected. Creative financing has taken over the grocery list and how we cook dinner, and pennies are collected in an old coffee can in the kitchen.
We are flat out broke and then some, but the truth is that we are truly and honestly happy. No amount of money has made us this way and no amount of money could make us happier. We have found our happy place in the little old house we call the Redneck Palace.
Tomorrow BF and I move on to a long awaited stage in our relationship. No we’re not getting married so don’t go ringing the church bells. It’s a stage that I’d rather keep to ourselves odd for me I know so that we can bask in its glory in our own little way. We have come this far to find our happiness and we’re not about to stop now.