How to be happy again: Finding joy in your life

The text conversation went something like this:

Jim: Have you seen the kitties yet?

Me: No, I have tried to find them. You found them? Where are they?

Jim: Under the flare bed wagon. Two of them. Both black with nickel-sized white crests on their throats.

It was a Monday at 11 a.m. I was supposed to have the day off from my job at Brownfield, but there were just too many things piling up there that needed my attention.

Although another day on the farm was what I wanted, I knew, considering the busy schedule of the next month and a half, I would fall behind if I did not get back to the office.

I could not wait to wrap up my work that day and drive home so I could meet the latest additions to our barn cat family. I was not disappointed when the little black bundles of fur peaked out from behind the tire of that old wagon.

With their momma-kitty by my side purring and rubbing against my leg, they were more curious than fearful. My heart melted at their blinking eyes, their stretching and the wide-open-mouth yawns.

Sometimes, you just need to let the rest of the world go and enjoy those moments that bring you joy.

I had taken a couple of days off the week before to catch up on things at home, with the plan of making it a long weekend and heading back to work on Tuesday.

Earlier this summer, I had surgery that kept me from pushing, pulling, or lifting anything over 10 pounds for six weeks.

That is not an easy task for anyone, but those of you who live on a farm with gardens and livestock in the summertime know how challenging and frustrating it was for me.

We like to grow things — vegetables, roses, a wide variety of perennials and annuals in flowerbeds and planters, an herb garden, hay and cattle.

Although our garden is much smaller than in previous years, harvest has been abundant. I am not one to let anything go to waste, so I have been harvesting and canning like nobody’s business.

We worked cattle. I baked. I stopped to smell the roses, literally.

I watched viceroy, monarch and giant swallowtail butterflies on the butterfly bushes, lavender and false sunflowers.

I weeded. And then I weeded some more.

I fed hummingbirds and listened for birdsong, using the Merlin Bird ID app on my phone to identify birds I could hear from my front porch.

I turned off social media. People I love and respect were posting hateful, disrespectful things about other people I love and respect that hold an opinion different than their own regarding candidates for the office of president of the United States.

As for me, I will not vote for or against someone because of their gender, their ethnicity, or their religious beliefs. I am not looking for a buddy. I want what is best for this country.

Our economy is in trouble and our position on the national stage needs attention. I trust those founding fathers who gave me my First and Second Amendment rights.

All the haters can wear me down, so I took time to catch up, to regroup and to find the joy that is in my life every single day.

Now I am ready once again to listen, ask questions and join the conversation because our future, and the future of our country, is on the line.