happiness is...

Listening to this right now.

Love it.

"Ta Daaah!"

Said the baby.

At four am.

That's right, every night the same.  THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.  Little footsteps. SCRITCH, SCRITCH, SCRATCH.  As something climbs into bed with us.

"Ta Daaah!" Said Zoe--our baby--arms raised to the darkened ceiling, as if to say--okay, the party can start, I'm heeeerrrreee!

Four am.

And we smiled at each other the wife and I.  Then I stroked Z's belly as Mommy got the bottle. Then Daddy shuffled off to the bottom bunk in the girls room so Z could sleep on my pillow next to Mommy.  Just like every night.

Lovely.

Seriously.

It's a beautiful thing the simple life.

And something that so many of us miss in our pursuit of pleasure and prosperity at any cost.  

I was listening to a friend online this past week and he reminded me of something Nik and I believe.  He said that many 'two-income' families are no better off--in terms of net-income after daycare, additional car, insurance, gas expenses, taxes etc.--than their single-income counterparts while the single-income families FAR outpace the doubles in terms of net-happiness.

Plus, we're not getting divorced.

Three couples we were friends with growing up are really struggling maritally right now.  I won't go into detail for their sake but suffice it to say Niki and I are deeply troubled and sad for them and spending much time in contemplation and prayer while feeling very thankful for the fact that we still feel 20 and 22 respectively.

I told her the other day that I like her much more today than when first we met.

She's my girl.

And what's really scary is that our life isn't an accident--it's a collection of experiences built one atop the other with the intention of becoming something good, and righteous and happy.

We make mistakes--many of them--surely.  But, at root, we've tried to live on-purpose and it seems--in light of our four AM happy wakeup--that we're doing alright.

No divorce pending here.

And I'm reminded, with that, to bring self-same intentionality to bear on my work.  'Cause your career (and working legacy) is a collection of experiences built one atop the other with the intention of becoming something good, and righteous and happiness-causing.

No?

T