On the morning of March 10 of 2009, the day before my 42nd birthday, I captured a fleeting, joyful, everyday-type of conversation that I had with my youngest child; it tickled me so that I shared it on my, then, blog. I miss writing. I used to settle in with my favorite hot beverage and write at the chunky desk that was my father’s, in my nook of an office, of our idyllic Lyme, NH home that Tim and I built and raised our family. At the time of the below post, I was:

1. An at-home and on the go mom of 3
2. New to Health Coaching
3. Maintained a clean house
4. Sometimes folded laundry
5. I was consistent with my blog
6. I was married

Today is April 8, of 2021, and 12 years later on what would have been my father’s 84th birthday, I am sitting on the couch, thinking about the topic of joy and writing this sentence at the age of 54 while waiting for my wee charge to wake from his nap at the home where I am a full-time nanny in Portland, Oregon. I am hoping to have a few more minutes to write before nap time is over, but get distracted with thoughts about how Kiel and I may spend the remaining sunny afternoon after work together, and what we will eat for dinner.

I am no longer married, and have been far with time and distance since this 2009 morning with Felix, but so close with joy.

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3.10.09

Tim & I have 3 children: Zach will be 15 in August, Hailey will officially enter teen-hood in June, and then there’s Felix; he will turn 7 in August. Each child boasts unique qualities, and have blessed us as parents and our daily living for almost a decade & a half with their presence and their presents of random isms.

Oh! To still have a little person in the house is beautiful! This morning as I make my one luscious cup of coffee, Felix lays an ism on me in his morning voice with an almost Katherine Hepburn-Esq intonation along with oodles of missing front teeth to boot:

Felix: Uh… ya know… I fell out of bed last night.

Me: Oh! That’s what that noise was. I got up to check; you were all right?

Felix: Yes. Ya know… It wasn’t the sound that woke me.

Me: No?

Felix: It was the ground.

Very simple, yet profoundly precious! With so many negatives happening daily in our micro worlds and in the world at large, it is imperative that we encounter, acknowledge, and hold onto even the tiniest moments that give way to that tickle we hold in the spot somewhere between our throat and our chest… joy.

What tickled you today?

–

Michele Boutin

@tickle_of_joy