Happiness comes from seeing the little things

Today I am sitting in a catbird seat.

First off, I have a soft new desk chair to sit in, and second, I finally have an idea for something to write about.

Besides it is raining, so I don't long to be outside — three balls and no strikes.

Being in the catbird seat is a good place to be. It means you are in an enviable position.

You don't know how many times in the past five years I have sat on a hard chair with a pillow for a seat staring at a blank page?

The minute I sat down for the first time on this cushy seat, leaned back and laid my elbows on the arm rests, I knew my life was on the upswing for the day — at least in the office.

It is funny how little it takes to be happy, which certainly is an enviable position.

When I was a young mother with small children and no money or time of my own, it was sometimes discouraging.

My mother told me to go out and buy one little thing. It could be anything — a flower, a lotion in a pretty bottle or a new hand towel — and then to place it where it would catch my eye, lifting my spirits.

It really worked.

My friend, Teri Wagner, gave me a book titled "14,000 Things to Be Happy About."

The author, Barbara Ann Kipfer, began writing down little things that made her happy, beginning in the sixth grade.

She used her collection for ideas of what to cook for dinner, where to take her son on a weekend, and often she used it to cheer herself up.

Then of course she published a book.

She writes on her fly page, "As you read through these pages, give yourself time to conjure up your own images — to reminisce, wish, and dream. I hope you will find, as I did, that happiness comes from noticing and enjoying the little things in life."

Here are some of the things from her that caught my eye:

"Seeing the moon rise"

"The feel of a rug under bare feet"

"Toddlers' vocabulary"

"Driving under an overpass during a storm"

"Dinner with laughter"

"Ghost stories and marshmallows by a fire"