Little Happies.

This morning started out a bit unusually. It was garbage day and someone had set a cedar chest to the curb. It was in beautiful shape. The lid had come apart from the chest, but that was an easy fix. There were some chips to the edge of the veneer on the top, but again, fixable. Set out to the curb to be collected by the garbage man. The manufacturer's label was still affixed to the inside of the chest. It had a very nice inlay. 

Tim said, "Do we want this?" and 'we' didn't, having a very nice cedar chest already, and given the fact that we know we are downsizing. But, still...it seemed such a terrible thing to have something so beautiful just heading to the dump.

I said, "I wonder if Katie has a hope chest?" and we pondered that. Long story short, we loaded it up in the car. We also took a very large amount of bubble wrap from another car part and loaded it up. The kids love that stuff. It is good for Rudy's fine motor skills to pop it. I also loaded up another batch of books for them, and we headed up on the hill to Levi and Mattie's house. 

The kids are back in school, so there is only Andy, Katie and little Davey out of school. Rudy had caught some sort of bug, and so he was home for the day, full of beans. We opened up the back of car and I asked Mattie, "Do your girls keep hope chests?" and she said, "Well...they do." I said, "Does Katie have one?" and she said, "No." Katie, as usual, stood quietly in the background listening. I explained how we came by the chest and asked did they want it. 

They did, and it was quickly spirited away by Andy and Katie. 

We sat visiting on the porch with fresh baked molasses cookies. Davey walked between adults handing them the bubble wrap. When someone popped a bubble for him, his little mouth made an astonished 'o' and his eyes grew wide as if every 'pop' came as a complete and unexpected surprise. Rudy was having a fine time himself, sprawled on the floor at our feet. Everyone was interested in the books and one of them, in particular caught Levi's eye. One of the books was a collection of local newspapers dating back to the 1850s. Mattie sighed. "We'll never get any work done. Everyone will want to sit and read books."

We sat and visited back and forth for a time. They'd been in an accident the previous week. They hit a deer. I said, "Whaaaat? In the buggy?" It would have to be a pretty dumb deer that didn't know how to get out of the way of a horse. They laughed. No. The minivan they were being driven in hit a deer. That got us on the subject of road kill. Don't ask me. I do not know. 

Then we were off. Tim had some electrical stuff to take care of. I had a book club meeting. This month's reading was Barbara Kingsolver, any book. Two of us had selected Demon Copperhead, and so it was interesting to compare notes. 

I was so hesitant about joining that club, but I'm so glad I did. I've never had women friends to really sit and visit with, and I enjoy it so much, hearing what everyone else has to say and having people listen if I have something to say. It was a nice couple of hours over a very nice lunch, with probably the best coffee I've ever had. 

I've been steadily ticking boxes for Christmas shopping. The thrill of finding exactly the right gift is another happy thing. 

In the midst of all the awfulness the world has been dishing out lately, it is reassuring that they are still there: those 'little happies' just waiting to be celebrated.