What Makes Me Happy

Me acting silly at a bank Christmas party

Recently a dear friend and a fellow blogger posted a series of posts about happiness.  Don't we all want to be happy? The only thing is each of us has different ideas of what makes us happy.

I've been thinking a bit about what makes me happy.  Here is a list in no particular order of what makes me happy:

Acting silly.  I do fear that no matter how old I am, I will never lose the impulse to just act silly.  I don't know where this comes from, perhaps a need to make people laugh and like me.  I really don't know but I do know that I like to just "let it go" at times.  Some of my fellow bloggers who attended the Bloggerpalooza this past March will recognize this indelible trait in my personality.  By the way, you think last years Bloggerpalooza was silly and goofy, wait until next year!  You ain't seen nothing yet!

Here are more things that bring a smile to my face and make life worth living:

1. Making Bill happy
2. Reading a good book
3. Watching a good movie
4. Writing my blog posts
5. Friends who like me for who I am and not who they want me to be
6. Working in my back yard
7. Meeting people at my job as a hotel front desk agent
8. Taking photos of headstones in cemeteries and recording them on Find a Grave
9. Taking photos and sorting through them to share them with friends and family
10. Organizing and pulling off a class reunion, family reunion and a blogger reunion (aka "Bloggerpalooza")
11. Taking an afternoon nap
12. My home in Delaware - perfect!
13. Delaware, where I am recognized as a full fledged human being and citizen and not discounted because I happen to be born gay
14. Dining at a restaurant (good) with a friend or friends
15. A good-looking, bearded man who is kind to me (bearded men turn me on)
16. Having no mortgage
17. Having savings in the bank 
18. Not being dependent on anyone 
19. A Pomeranian dog
20. Cats
21. Seeing a roadside pickup crew volunteering their time cleaning the litter along our roadways
22. W. C. Fields
23. Bradley Cooper
24. FaceTime
25. Doritos Blazing Chips
26. Eggplant Parmesan
27. Chargrilled, well done hamburger with lettuce, red onion, tomato, cheddar cheese and bacon on a toasted sourdough roll (only available in San Francisco)
28. Potato salad (mine)
29. Cream of Zucchini soup (mine)
30. Lemon bundt cake (mine)
31. Having good friend(s) over for dinner with me and Bill
32. Good neighbors
33. Humming birds
34. Purple Martins
35. Bluebirds
36. Catbirds
37. My co-workers at the hotel where I work
38. My boss at the hotel where I work
39. The owner of the hotel where I work (not just saying this to suck up, I am truly blessed at this time in my life to work with a fabulous group of people at the hotel and believe me, in my long work history I've worked with some doozies)
40. An air conditioned house
41. Bottled water
42. Ice tea
43. Memories of my childhood on Washington Avenue in Downingtown, PA
44. Memories of my school years in Downingtown, PA high school
45. Having a president, vice president and governor who recognizes me as a full fledged human being and citizen and doesn't discount me just because I happened to be born gay
46. My long time friends from my school days who I still talk to frequently and share 
47. Memories of my three years in the Army and the first time I met other gay men like myself who I became lifelong friends with - they're all gone now, I am the lone survivor
48. My new friends who I met through blogging which has opened up a whole new world to me of wonderful folks who I otherwise would never have known
49. Bette Davis
50. Joan Crawford
51. Hedy Lamarr
52. Guy Madison
53. Walking the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach
54. Getting old time photos taken with my friends
55. A sailboat ride
56. Pet chickens
57. All the folks at MSNBC
58. When I go to sleep at night
59. When I wake up in the morning
60. Keeping my weight down all my life
61. My typing skills
62. People who treat me with respect
63. My marriage to Bill
64. Living with a man for the past 49 years who treats me like a prince (I love it!)
65. Life

Friends

This is just a partial list, things that came to my mind as I typed this blog.  I have a lot more likes and certainly plenty of dislikes.  However, I try to refrain from writing negative posts.  

I think the thing that makes me the happiest is that I've been lucky and fortunate enough to have lived a long and comfortable life.  Sure, I've had my "Armageddons" which I will write about in the future but on the whole, I've had a very good life.  Should I depart this earth tomorrow I will have no regrets.  Perhaps the only thing I missed in my "like" list is my own in ground swimming pool.  But, I'm not done yet.

Still on my bucket list