BEING HAPPY

Recently, I stumbled upon an interesting article: Can You Be Happy For 100 Days In A Row? At first I thought, Of course I can! What a ridiculous question! but then I read further. The phrase Every day submit a picture of what made you happy! jumped out and tackled me before I could navigate away. As the reality of the commitment the site was asking me to make sunk in, I realized that I couldn't even name one thing that made me happy in the past week. Except for sleep. Being able to shut off the stress of the day by simply closing my eyes made me downright ecstatic. I figured I'd better get on this stat.

I will be posting on my own site, in my own way. Sometimes I will share a picture, but other times it may be an anecdote or just a phrase. Every day, for at least 100 days, I will share something that made me happy - really happy.

This is my journey to happiness: 
DAY 3:

Posing for pictures has always been a problem. As a kid, one blowing out the birthday candles shot would take ten minutes of set up and fifty critiques from my mother. A photo session would always end in fighting and sometimes tears. Forty years later, I am awkward, insecure, and anything but friends with the camera. My kids are constantly yelling at me to "Smile Mom!" and "Stop making that weird face Mom!" It sounds just like when I was younger, except that there is encouragement behind their exclamations, rather than disappointment and disdain.

My children are naturally beautiful, but they are also shining examples of what I long to be - free spirited and proud of who they are inside and out. On days like today, when things don't go smoothly and I'm overwhelmed with tasks to complete, I turn to them to distract me and show me what happiness looks like when I forget. My heart swells when I watch them taking crazy selfies for Snapchat or Instagram and sometimes I let go and join in because around them, happiness is contagious. 

                                       

     
                                                                                                  

CF Winn is the award-winning author of The COFFEE BREAK SERIES, a quirky group of short stories meant to be read while on break or in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. Her first novella, SUKI, has been grabbing hearts and hugging souls all over the United States. 

You can now order SUKI in paperback at http://hopress-shorehousebooks.com/cf-winn/  or at BOOK REVUE, one of the nation’s largest independent bookstores, by email at info@bookrevue.com Learn more about SUKI at BOOK REVUE. 

CF Winn is the founder of Winning! Publications, a firm specializing in editing and promotion services for authors. Her latest project is the just released Trailer Trash, With a Girl’s Name, a hilarious and heartwarming story of a boy saddled with a girl’s name and forced into a nomadic existence. Order it now: http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Trash-With-Girls-Name-ebook/dp/B00IX0MIAO 

 

 http://www.gofundme.com/577n90

   

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?? MEET CHANTAY

Meet Chantay:


This hopeless romantic grew up believing that her mother had mind-reading/super-hearing powers , because "she always knew, or had some idea of what I was about to do."
"It never occured to me that I was the youngest of four, and that one of my siblings had probably already tried to do many, if not all of the same things. A lot of times when I thought I was being secretive and whispering, she overheard everything I was saying, because I just really did not know how to whisper."

When Chantay was in 7th grade, her friends decided to smoke before school. They planned it out and assigned each person a supply that they were to bring. Vanessa was supposed to sneak cigarettes, Lucille had gum, and Chantay stocked up on matches. The morning of the great smokescapade, as Chantay was leaving the house, her mother said, " Have a good day... and if I ever catch you smoking I will make you eat the ashes."
'Nuff said. Chantay did not meet up with her friends, and her mother's extrasensory persona went live: "I was convinced that my mother was a mind-reading/ super-hearing woman."

Now, all grown up, Chantay is a teacher. If she asked her students, she's sure they would confirm that she had inherited the ability to read minds because, "I always know what is going on. If they are about to tell me something, I say that I'm already aware, and they can't understand how...just like the way my mom knew with me."

"The truth is, my students have also never mastered the art of whispering, and they assume that when they're talking around me, I have my head buried in paperwork, so I'm not listening. They know nothing about multitasking, and have no idea that I hear everything they say, whether it's good or bad, without looking up. Most of the time I intervene before the drama happens. They act like they hate it, but I'm sure they are thanking me later...just not to my face."

To most, Chantay is a fun loving, free spirit. She attributes that to her parents: "If the gift of gab is a power, then I got that from my mom. If humor is too, then I inherited that from my dad."









Those abilities landed her a ticket to Superbowl XLVII where she was seen holding up a handwritten sign:



... and after a bit of Mardi Gras fun, she took off for Trinidad where she is presently dancing and mocking the East Coast blizzard (and this writer!) from the comfort of a 90 degree beach.



I asked her what she thinks about when she is talking to people. Her mischievous smile is always the same, and it made me question what goes on behind it.

She answered: "When I was a waitress and had extremely annoying costumers, I would wonder if they have friends, or why would they come out the house looking the way that they did at the time...then I would start to wonder if when I go out to restaurants, do the waitresses think the same things about me?!"

I pressed a little bit more. There's an eternally romantic side to Chantay that sometimes gets lost in the KAFE CASTROesque public persona she presents:



Like what you see? To read the rest, and to find out who killed Chantay's boyfriend, go to:
http://www.readsuki.com/whats-your-story/