Noticing Joy

I was inspired today by Ginny’s post on small things about taking the time to notice and absorb the joy in our households.  Good for her, I thought.  And then, in a rather Scrooge-like fashion, I don’t have time for joy.   Here I was—at my computer, supposed to be working, knowing that as soon as I finish work I’ll be back at work in my home—always feeling busy super every moment my son is awake. 

And then I snapped out of it.  I don’t have time for joy?  Wow, that sounded—and felt—really stupid and negative.  Of course I have time to notice the things already going on around me.  I just needed to grab my camera and actually focus on them (and document them for posterity). 

That sort of goes along with the other point of Ginny’s post, noticing the joy and turning unhappy moments into joyful ones. And for me, that means not focusing on the negative.  I’ve been trying to do that all along, but I never thought about taking time to notice joy. A-ha!  She’s really onto something.

So here’s the joy I noticed today, starting at around 4 p.m.

A little boy who’s very happy to feed himself, thank you.

A stack of neatly folded laundry I didn’t have to fold myself.

A boy who’s sometimes good at being gentle with our very patient cat…

…and sometimes not.

Nathan playing guitar with Daddy.

A delicious quiche for dinner that I did not make—I thank my husband for his supreme cooking skills.

Dancing with Daddy in jammies to ragtime music on the radio.

Resting after all that exertion.



Baby sneakers.



May I always notice the joy going on around me and in my family home.