Season of Gratitude: Happy Hour

I remember being perplexed by Happy Hour as a kid. Were you not supposed to be happy except between the hours of 4pm and 7pm? And what exactly made “happy hour” happy”?

Tonight I met my husband and my brother&sister-in-law at Gordon Biersch for Happy Hour. Let me just tell you, it’s not drinks that compel me, it’s the garlic fries. They would make a vampire blow his diet. So it's the garlic fries. And the company, of course.

I'm a stay-at-home Mom, and we live in the country, so going into the city is a fun change of pace.

Did you ever watch the show "Dallas"? they were always going "into the city", dressing snazzy, driving their convertibles on freeways that strangely had no traffic ...

... anyway ...

Today I'm thankful for Happy Hour.

But not that kind of Happy Hour. I don't remember where I read about this concept - it's certainly not original to me. Anyway, the idea is to pre-determine moments in your day when you’ll be happy.

So in the morning, I tell myself, "I'll be happy today when I see the pumpkins on the front porch.”

Zing! happy.

or, "I'll be happy today when I see my morning glories (that survived the dogs ... and the horse ... and the hottest, driest summer in years)."

Zing! happy.

or, "I'll be happy today when company comes to the door."

Zing! happy.

Most of the time my list includes things like hearing my children laugh, or seeing my husband drive up in his truck, or hearing my dad come into the kitchen. I make a list in the morning, telling myself when I'll be happy and it sets up little pockets of happy all day long … happy hours, you see.

So, here’s to happy hour. I’m thankful for it today :o)