PocketFull of Sunshine....

I woke up this morning to the realization that I had slept straight through the night (a rare occurrence these days)...a hard, heavy sleep - the kind where you realize that you might not have even rolled over, because of the lines on your face, and the dead no-feeling feeling in your arm. I was sorely tempted to roll over and go back to sleep, as for the first time in months, I had nothing I absolutely had to do - except for one thing.With my intentional happiness quest in mind, I had promised the girls a trip to the Farmers Market...so with the sensory knowledge that John had already put the coffee on, I got up. I knocked on doors, and asked the girls if they still wanted to go (half hoping that they would grumble a sleepy no, and go back to sleep). They both answered in the affirmative, so I gulped a cup of coffee, threw on some clothes (yes, both my shoes matched), slicked back my short, very badly cut hair, and we set off for our adventure. It was a beautiful morning - not too hot, with a really delightful breeze (For those of you that don't know it, I LOVE the wind...hot, cold rainy - doesn't matter to me - the stronger the better). Our Farmers Market here is really tremendous - two big covered open air sales areas, and one permanent building. We were immediately assaulted with bright colors and rich Tuberose and basil smells. We went from stall to stall, looking at flowers, admiring the new pumpkins - buying baby cherry tomatoes in three different colors, marveling over a sugar baby watermelon that had a lacey, crop circle pattern on it's rind....With the wind in my face, my girls by my side - I felt my whole body relax into a sense of well being - of perfect happiness in the moment....and then...we saw it. At first glance, it appeared to be a middle age woman pushing a baby in a funky little stroller.....when the full reality of what we were seeing hit - we were hard put to not cause a scene. In place of the baby, on a little shelf thingy at the top of the would be stroller, was a cat....an orange, ill tempered looking cat - the kind whose scowl would send even the most die hard cat lover running for cover. This poor little feline had every reason to be ill tempered because....wait for it....it was dressed in a tiny blue gingham, Wizard of Oz worthy dress - with white lace details at the bib and the hem....I tell you, the only thing missing was a bonnet...I took a girl in each arm, and we bolted - we had to put some distance between ourselves and the cat lover before we broke forth with our hysterical laughter.  We crossed the street to the other side of the market in high spirits...more flowers, more peaches, mountains of apples, and then - the heavens opened, the angels sang, and my teenage daughters almost expired on the spot...because there, standing before us, selling his Mothers Goat Milk Soap, was THE MOST GORGEOUS YOUNG MAN I HAVE EVER SEEN! (Go ahead....call me Aunt Creepy, but this young 20-something fella defied human nature with his attractiveness) His eyes were the purest turquoise, his skin the color of warm sand, his toothy smile so dazzling that we had to shield our eyes...and then, he opened his mouth. Have you seen the movie The Grown-Ups? You know when the wives meet the guy from Saskatchatoon? Yep...you got it....his speaking voice was in the same register as an eight year old girl. We still had not recovered our wits from the Dorothy Cat, so we hurriedly bought some lovely soap, and once again set off. Our goal? To put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the dreamboat with the unfortunate voice, before we were once again overcome with fits of laughter....My 13 year old had the last word (The 16 year old was still incapeable of speech, owing to the fact she was still pole axed by his glorious visage), as she said...."It could be OK Mama.....I would just tell him to speak with his eyes"!! ......yep, by far one of the best days I've had in a long time.....the wind in my face, the laughter of my precious girls, intentional happiness, and a pocket full of Sunshine.....