Life is full

I have realized over the last few years that I have much more control over my own happiness than I ever knew before.  And let me tell you, I am working it.  I have long heard from many people that though you can't control what happens to you, you can control how you react to it and that your attitude has so much to do with your happiness.  I completely agree; once I am in a situation that cannot be changed, at least I have control over my attitude.  But what I am talking about goes even beyond that.  I now realize that I don't have to even put myself in many of the situations that used to cause me stress.  I realize that I have a fair amount of control over how I spend my time and that I can choose to spend it in a way that brings me happiness.  And I can change things.  And I can make decisions that bring change.  When I can also find a nice balance between all of the things that have become priorities in my life, I am in bliss.

On Saturday, I woke up early and headed to my college alma mater.  The campus has changed quite a bit since I was there last.  The building in which I spent most of my hours as an undergrad physics major has been completely renovated.  Touring the facility, I was amazed at the changes.  I am on the advisory board of the Physics Department there, and was happy to see many of my former professors and to interact and chat with them and the other members of the board.  And I was happy to contribute in a positive, albeit minor, way to the well-being of the department.

I got home at around 2:30 and at 3:30 the four of us headed to the birthday party of a classmate of Everly's whose brother happens to be a classmate of Cortlan's.  From there, we went home for a quick turnaround, dropped the kids off at my parent's house at around 7:00 and headed out to a surprise birthday party for a co-worker.  There, we had a great time socializing with old and new friends.

Despite a late night, I was up early yesterday to complete my first nine-mile run of my training for the half-marathon coming up on May 6th.  This was a milestone, as my longest run pre-injury was eight miles, and I have now finally surpassed that mark as I make my comeback.

We got Everly's pictures taken, which was a bit of an ordeal, and then spent the rest of the day yesterday around the house..

So this weekend, I didn't spend as much time as usual cleaning, though my house is relatively clean.  I got to be "professional" Joyce.  I got to hang out with my husband and friends in a social situation without kids.  I got to hang out with my kids and do the "mom" thing.  I got to rock a long run.  I got to relax a bit, and I tried my best to not stress.  I found a pretty decent balance.  I was tired.  But I was happy.