MEME: Ten Happiness & Five Wonders

I got tagged. So here you go. A meme unplanned for. Dangling participle or some such. I don't care – read the answers.

List ten things that make you happy (in no particular order), and then tag five people to do the same.

1. The joyful greeting that Willow gives me every time I let her out of her kennel.

2. “Little P” and “Pumpkin” taking time out of their alpha cat duties to greet me every time I come outside.

3. That little smile my wife gets after an orgasm.

4. A photo turning out right. (Much easier with digital, but still, I get that little rush when it's a “keeper.”)

5. Entering a curve, power on, picking the perfect line so the apex slides by *just so* then applying even more power as I exit with the tires chirping their protest.

6. Watching my brother when he paddles in earnest. He's so damn graceful.

7. Sitting in the shade of a tall old tree on a hot summer's day, remembering vignettes of the kids and their mom, back in the day.

8. That first drink of the day. The thunks and then the clink of the ice as I extract it from the freezer bin and drop it into their iced vessel, the oily slide of the whiskey around the ice cubes, burning off the frost as it slowly rises towards the rim of the double old fashioned glass. There is such promise in the crack of an ice cube adjusting to new temperatures as it lies in the nectar of the gods. The bouquet as I bring it to my nose. It was a good year, made better by a splash of soda – the proper counterpoint to the scotch, anathema of bourbon. Then that first sip. Liquid fire spreading down my throat, the involuntary shiver as the super-cooled alcohol hits my gullet and “They're Off!”

   Seventeen years without a drink. But I remember it like it was only yesterday.

9. The crack of an ash baseball bat as I knock one out of the park in my dreams of greatness. Even if I”m only shagging flyballs for the dog to chase.

10. The calm that envelopes me as I confront another of my fears in a dangerous situation. There's nothing purer, more elemental than that. Try it. You might like it, too.

    OK, the instructions by Cynthia of A Crazy Quilt Life are to tag five (5) more people to play. So I am picking some of my favorite bloggers: Carly, Andrea, Vince, Shelly, Gerrit. Go forth and be fruitflies. Or something like that...