JOY Feels Like A Surprise

Copyright January 2007 HouseWife Mafia

You know how when you go over a bump in
the car or when you are on an amusement
park ride and there is a moment of inner
weightlessness?

That is joy. It feels like a surprise. A
jack-in-the-box- emotion that catches us off
guard and carries us away. In a snap we are
jolted out of all our thoughts and worries.
Cares go some where else for a moment and
all that is left is that single shining moment of
joy.

A friend in college had an expression you
should know about. When surprised by joy he
would lean back and throw his hands in the air
as if to say 'I surrender'. Maybe he was raising
his hands in some kind of unconscious praise
and thanksgiving, although he was not a
particularly religious person.

I wish you could see his face at those
moments. It was always the same expression.
He would look startled, and then as if washed
with light, his face would light up. The head
would thrown up, up goes the hands, and he
would laugh from that deep, secret place
inside. Sometimes no sound would come out,
just the gaping, smiling mouth, looking up,
raising his hands and his eyes upwards,
surrendering.

The experience of watching him experience joy
on this level, over stupid ordinary things, stays
with me. It has become a part of me. It is how
I think of joy. Seeing someone surrender to
and being thankful for every drop of joy that
came his way was a joy within itself.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we all allowed ourselves
to experience joy so freely in this way?

HOUSEWIFE MAFIA CURRENT PROJECT

To provide 100,000 gifts of much needed and well earned comfort
for our deployed troops.

House Wife Mafia is partnering with Soldiers Angel to purchase cool scarves
for our active duty military.

Our goal is to have 100,000 donated by April 1st.
That is when the temperatures start getting over 100 degrees
over in the Middle East.

This is an item the soldiers are really asking for.

The total cost to have one shipped over there is $5 bucks.

All donations are made directly to Soldiers Angels -
a 501c3 Non Profit started by a soldiers mother so that no soldier would go unloved.

They accept Paypal to make it super fast and easy for you.

Together we really can make a big difference with just a small amount of effort.

We hope you will join us to show the world just what we can accomplish
when we work together!