Time for a DU Cheer-up: Share with me one of your happiest moments

[LynneSin]

Ok, it seems that we (as in everything with DU) seems to be imploding with the SOTU and the Alito nomination and a host of other things.

So we need a really happy thread. Tell me about one of the happiest moments in your life - I don't care how corny or silly it may seem (and trust me my first one is almost predictable but very happy time for me).

My happiest moment?

See, you folks think I'm some nutty Led Zeppelin fan who hasn't caught up to the 20th Century but the thing is that when I was going through some of the saddest moments of my life (ie when my father died back in 1981) my means of escaping was a stack of LZ vinyl on the stereo, the volume up to level 10 and the headsets on so I could escape my world crashing around me.

So my happiest memory?

Well, one of them anyways - 1988 I had tickets to see Robert Plant in concert with my best friend (another Zephead like me) and one of her co-workers. It was general admission and somehow the line broke up in a way that we were standing at the front of the entrances to Hersheypark stadium (which was general admission). My friend's co-worker was like "Can we run to the restroom first before we get a place to watch the concert" Fortunately my best friend and I both knew better and reminded her where the car was parked because we were racing for the front.

So my first ever (and only) front row at the Robert Plant concert and this time he's doing Zeppelin songs (he opened with "In the Evening"). But the happiest momemt? During the 2nd verse of his new song "In the Mood" he reached out and we held hands during that chorus.

It was a great time for a diehard fan like myself. THank god I'm tall because it was quite a stretch but I was able to make it

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So now that I shared my corny story it's time for you to share a happy moment of your life. It's time to share the love with everyone here at DU.

Go for it!!

[southlandshari]

1. Two days ago, I saw someone reclaim hope in their life

And I hope I had a tiny bit to do with that.

The Habitat for Humanity affiliate in my area, which has languished for a while, broke ground on its third house in as many weeks on Sunday. It was a long time coming, and the single mom with four children who has waited for three years for that day was overwhelmed with joy. So was I - just blessed to be a part of it.

I wake up every morning with a roof over my head. A 50-year-old, used, overpriced roof, but make no mistake about it - I live in a decent shelter and am damn lucky I do.

Millions of people in this country alone live in deplorable housing, some of which would give conditions in "developing nations" a run for their money.

I am so grateful for the life I have - as screwed up and complicated and frustrating as it can be on a daily basis.

And I am so grateful for the DU community that supports me through it all. When we can find it in ourselves to stop taking out our personal shit on each other and come together for better things.

:)



I guess that wasn't a "happy" post all the way through, but it's what I felt moved to type. I hope that's ok.


:hide:

[GOPisEvil]

2. Hi Shari!

:hi:


Edit - I think your story is quite uplifting. :)

[southlandshari]

3. There is a happy part of my life right there!!

YOU!!


:loveya:

[GOPisEvil]

5. Awww!

You're a happy part of my life, too! :loveya:

[LynneSin]

7. Like my Robert Plant story was?

Happiness is what brings YOU joy.

And knowing that this brought you joy brings more joy to those of us who you are sharing that story.

:D

[southlandshari]

14. You are awesome, Lynne

And it brings me great joy to finally spell your name right!

;)


Thanks so much for this thread, darlin'....

:hug:

[Midlodemocrat]

4. Okay, but it is a little sappy.

I got a bigger than expected bonus this year and found out that a family in the community wouldn't be able to provide toys for the kids due to medical bills.

I bought a WalMart gift card for $500, (don't flame me for the WalMart part, I thought they might need food, too) and put it in their mailbox with a card from 'Santa'.

Heard via the grapevine that when mom found it she cried for the entire day.

That made me feel pretty damned good about myself.

[southlandshari]

6. You are

an absolutely incredible person, Midlo.

I am so glad you shared that. It made me very happy and hopeful!

:hug:

[LynneSin]

9. Now you have me crying

:cry:

I need a better story, mine is kinda silly compared to what you and shari posted!

[GOPisEvil]

11. You're such a good person.

:hug:

[redwitch]

29. you are wonderful!

:loveya:

[driver8]

47. That is the best story I have heard in a long, long time...

I am not a religious person but if I was, I would say, "bless you."

[GOPisEvil]

8. One of my happiest moments was this past September in DC.

I enjoyed just about all of that trip. Even the parts that weren't perfect still had a lot of positives. I met great people, did great things, and had great fun.

[LynneSin]

13. Oh gawd-darnit now you have me crying

:cry:

and :blush: for my dumbass story

[grace0418]

22. Your story wasn't dumbass.

It was a simple happy memory. They don't always have to be profound to be happy. :hug:

[Sugar Smack]

24. OMG! You have just NAILED one of mine.

I have never been the same after that. It made me into a new person. I was shyer before, and never really spoke up about things before that weekend. I'm not the same person any more. I loved meeting you. You're so grounded, and you're kind. The weekend in DC gave me so much hope.

*YOU TOO, Lynne!!!* For both of you, :hug: :hug:

[CBHagman]

10. One of the most glorious moments of my life.

When I was 20, I got a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange to go on a summer course in Heidelberg, Germany. I had never been abroad before and was nervous and excited about the whole experience.

I went ahead and bought a Eurail Pass (student rate) and a cheap Icelandic flight to Luxembourg (In the heart of Europe, don't you know). I flew overnight from JFK and landed in Luxembourg, where I caught the train to Germany.

I will never forget how I felt to ride the train into Germany, grasping on the handles of the windows of the train, with the wind blowing against my face, looking out into the landscape. I decided, by chance, to ride through the Mosel Valley, and I was captivated by all the towns and castles and vineyards. It was midsummer and glorious.

That's one of the first moments I think of whenever someone asks about the happiest times in my life.

[Shine]

12. Nice idea, Lynne. I'd thought of doing the same thing. It's nice to

to shift the vibe in here...

One of my happy moments:

this was many years ago, when my youngest kid and only daughter was about 4 yrs old. We were riding along in the car and out of the blue, from the back seat, she asks me in her precious, little-girl voice, "Mommy, did we come true in your dream?"

I said, "Yes, honey you DID come true in my dream."

She knew, even at that young age, how very loved she is. My kids are my dream come true. :loveya:

[LSK]

15. i just returned from the dentist and its almost over!!!!

:bounce:

[RevolutionaryActs]

16. That's a great story Lynne!

I'll have to think for a bit on mine.

[Faygo Kid]

17. My evil former boss, the She-Devil, was fired this summer.

I am a terrible person, but I took great satisfaction in seeing someone that contemptible, that mean, lose her high paying job. And I have been in the workforce for 30 years, with nothing otherwise but great relationships, with male and female supervisors alike. This was a person of extreme cruelty. I could take it, and got out. Others quailed in fear. Of course, she was a total suckup to those who could advance her; eg, Board members. They saw through her, eventually, of course, and once her powerful protector retired and moved to Florida, they gave her the heave-ho. She got what she deserved, and there is a God.

[grace0418]

18. Can I list a few?

Not in order or anything...

-On our honeymoon trip (which we actually took on our 1st anniversary), we visited Madrid, Paris and Barcelona. The actually day of our anniversary, we got into Paris at sunrise via an overnight train from Madrid. I had been there once but my husband hadn't. I knew our hotel was a short walk from the Eiffel Tower and so I had us get off the Metro at the stop closest to the tower instead of the hotel. We came up the steps to the most magnificent view. We were both in awe. Then, we walked to our hotel, which was on a small residential/market street. The cobblestoned streets were wet with the previous night's rain and the sunrise was really golden and beautiful. It was a Sunday morning so the street was packed with Parisians shopping in the yummy food stalls along the street. It was so incredible, so perfect, so magical I had chills and tears in my eyes. That day really stands out as one of my happiest.


-Another really happy and proud moment was marching alongside thousands of other committed and angry Americans along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The march was somewhat unplanned. I had attended a rally to protest the Iraq War and so many people showed up that it just became a march. Yes I was angry, and full of disgust at our criminal administration. But seeing so many like-minded people around me from so many walks of life really made me happy, too. Later when I saw how the news portrayed the protesters as a small, rag-tag group of hippies causing trouble I got REALLY pissed but that's another story.

To this day whenever I'm driving on Lake Shore Drive and I come around a certain bend, I remember how we took it over and marched all the way up from the Loop to the Gold Coast. That was amazing.


-The first time I ever saw Neil Finn (my favorite musician in the world) I also lucked into first row seats. Actually, there were tables around the stage and we got very comfortable seats so close that I was resting my arm on the stage the whole time. We were nowhere near the front of the line but for some reason everyone in front of us ran right while we ran left -always the leftist ;). Anyway, not only was I right on the stage but I was about 3 feet from where Neil stood for most of the evening. That rocked. Especially when he played Message to My Girl, just him and the piano. Oy vey, I love that man.

[LynneSin]

19. See, I'm not the only one who gets corny over the front row

for a favorite musician

:D

[grace0418]

20. Heck no. One of my other favorite moments also involves Neil Finn.

One time I won a radio contest to go to a sound check before the show. So when he was done rehearsing he asked for requests. I requested my favorite song of his that he never plays live and he played it for me.... sigh...

Afterwords he signed autographs and chatted with the dozen or so people who won the contest. Of course, I could barely speak I was such a wreck (stupid, I know, but I couldn't help it) but it still rocked. Hard.

[More Than A Feeling]

21. My girlfriend is a huge Led Zeppelin freak

and the happiest moment of my life was our first kiss:D

[HEyHEY]

23. The day my scabies went away

I get all emotional thinking about it. :hug:

[REDKING]

30. Like it centurion..Like it

You are a sick boy.

[trof]

25. Watched my daughter come into the world.

Never before, and never since, a moment like that.

[neweurope]

26. When I was leading a group of horseback riders - one of

the first after I had gotten my license to do this.

We were at full speed, galloping as hard as we could, and all of a sudden I noticed I was sitting damn near sideways on my horse watching those people behind me, riding zigzag to keep some overly eager horses from breaking through. That gallop was like flying and everything came so natural and easy... learning to ride did not come naturally to me; I had to learn it the hard way, and here I was flying and effortlessly hanging on that horse like an Indian. That was sheer joy in life and god and mankind - and in the greatest horse anybody on earth ever owned ;). Can't ride anymore due to my health but I'll never forget that moment. And I'll be always grateful to my little Tignous :)


-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[REDKING]

27. The first time I seen her ,That was me.

She wore a uniform of petrol blue,funny glasses but the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
At first sight,We stayed together until I was 27.I am now 41.It was the most wonderful thing.
I met her not so long ago,It was like meeting a very old friend,But much deeper.
I hold that day dear.

[miss_american_pie]

28. Right after my first child was born

(After quite a long day) when the nurse put him across my chest and I said his name, he lifted his head up and looked right into my eyes.

He saw right into me in a way I still can't figure out how to describe.

[Dinger]

31. When My Mom Made It Through Heart Surgery, and A Year Later, A

Brain aneurysm.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

32. Nothing spectacular.

My wedding day (ended up getting divorced some years later, but the wedding was great).

And my first solo flight. I'd always been afraid of flying, got over it by learning to do it myself. That first solo gave me the most liberated feeling because something that had really scared me, didn't any more.

[fudge stripe cookays]

33. reprehensor's first visit to me in Texas...

the last week of March 1999.

From the first night we were just exhausted and excited and held each other. We'd been corresponding for 3 months before that, and had gone crazy from anticipation waiting to meet each other.

That whole week was this amazing blur of US. There was this feeling for me that the earth had shifted on its axis or something. Relationships had NEVER been this easy before. I'd always had to work my ass off trying to get men to love me. This guy did it all on his own. No seduction, no trying to impress him, no nothing. He just DID.

I had NEVER had a relationship work correctly. There was just always something OFF. The minute he stepped off the plane and we hugged the first time, we just knew. It sounds corny, but we both finally got it right.

The first time he looked at me and said "I love you" during that trip, I knew that this was what everyone had been telling me about all along, and this was how it was REALLY supposed to feel. :blush:

[ronnykmarshall]

34. Seeing the Supremes in 1974.

and meeting Mary Wilson and hanging out with her in 2003.

My happiest moments are Supreme related.


And oh yeah .... gettin hitched to the old ball and chain in 2001.

[Ariana Celeste]

35. Alright..

It's a toss-up between two

first let me say, I'm only 20, so there aren't a whole lot of super-interesting moments in my life as of yet. ;)

#1 My little brother and I, like most siblings, fought and fought for years, we beat the crap out of eachother all the time, and pretty much hated eachother. A couple years after we called a truce and quit physically fighting, we started getting along great and hung out at school and started going to the same parties and hanging out with the same people. one day when im in class a kid throws a small wad of paper at me- it hits my eye. it doesn't really hurt but my eye starts watering badly. class is over, and with my eye still watering, i run into my brother in the hallway. he immediately asks "Who made you cry?!" and Itold him what happened. for two weeks he skipped 3rd period (4 period days so 3rd period was when the lunches happened) with several of his friends, until they tracked the kid down. he slammed the kid against the wall (i happened to be there) and told him to never fuck with his sister again. scared the crap out of the kid without even having to fight. i know this may sound bad, but this is the first time EVER my brother stood up for me in public. so yeah, one of the best moments of my life

#2 is when i got off the plane when i originally flew out here to be with my SO 2 years ago. we found out within minutes that we were right about eachother- and we have been happy since


disclaimer: if i spelled stuff wrong, had bad grammar, or make no sense, i apologize, ive had a few beers :toast:

[grace0418]

36. I love these stories. Please add more.

I need all the cheering up I can get.

[hunter]

37. I've got a picture of me and my wife my sister took...

It's the first picture of us together, even before our first date.

We were both dating other people at the time but you could tell something was up, it really was love at first sight. I don't think the woman I'd been dating was heartbroken to see me go either.

Later, the day after our first date, I told my best friend I was going to marry her, and I did.

Since then there have been many "happy moments."

Long before then, after I graduated from high school, I was generally an unhappy person. At maybe the lowest point of my life a friend attempted suicide in my apartment, I was in a car wreck, and I was asked to leave my university after I got into a fight with a teaching assistant... etc., etc., etc. So I went to another college and managed to mess that up too, but one of the geology professors there decided I wasn't a hopeless crazy person. He made a few calls, and got me back into the university I'd been asked to leave. I suspect he also asked a few people there to look out for me.

Being back in the University I wanted to be at was a wonderful happy moment, and a few years later when I graduated was another happy moment.

If I can do what my geology professor did for me, I'm a very fortunate man.

[nemo137]

38. Mountain Goats show, Urbana, IL, 10-12-05

Finally got to see the incredible Mountain Goats, and they did songs off the first tape, the most recent CD, and everything inbetween. And I was right up front, watching John Darnielle tell stories and sing. It was amazing. I was grinning like an idiot the whole time. I had been trying to see this band for years, and right in the middle of a really shitty time at school, there they were, large as life and affordable.

[XemaSab]

39. I've had a few days that really stand out and it's hard to pick one

but a few summers ago I was doing bird surveys and my boss dropped me off in the middle of the Klamath Mountains alone, just me, my butterfly net, my butterfly book, my binoculars, my camping gear, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5). It was a few days ater the book had come out, and it was my first time reading it.

I got up before dawn to do the survey, and I got back to camp and just hung out all day under a GIANT old growth Doug Fir that must have been 10 feet across. There was a CRAZY butterfly movement going on, and I'd read a chapter, then get up and look at the butterflies for a bit, then read another chapter, then look at the butterflies some more. Ate loads wild strawberries and just enjoyed the day.

One of the happiest, most mellow days I've ever had.

Something odd happened that day though. I was reading the Harry Potter book and there's a scene where Harry dreams that he's a snake. It's a very intense scene, and after I read it I set the book aside for a second to think about what I had read. I looked over my shoulder and there was a teeny little Garter snake crawling along the bark of the tree about a foot away from me at head height. Odd stuff. :shrug:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

40. One real one and a few upcoming ones.

The real one occurred four years ago, exactly two weeks before I graduated college. It was the night I premiered my 80-minute student film to a crowd of my fellow students.

The film was my senior project (I got an "A" :)), and I had worked on it for five months from conception to finished product. It was the most grueling and difficult task I had ever gone through, but when I saw the audience laugh at all the right parts, I knew it was all worth it.

The high point was the sustained applause at the very end of the credits -- when the screen read "Written, Directed, Edited and Produced by ______ ________."




As far as upcoming great moments, assuming they happen, one of them will be selling the screenplay I'm currently finishing up. I've been working on it since I finished my student film, so it'll be a huge relief if I go all the way with it.

Other potential great moments include selling the television pilot script I'm also working on (see a theme here?) and creating my own production company, the name of which I thought of back in 2000, but will not reveal right now for copyright purposes. ;)

But a guaranteed great moment will be approaching in July or August of this year when I finally move to NYC. :toast:

I realize my great moments may not be writ large on the universally accepted canvas, but for me, they have and will work out perfectly for me. :)

[grace0418]

41. Happy moments are happy moments. It doesn't matter whether

they are large or small. Yours were great, btw. Good luck with everything.

[taterguy]

42. Hiking the Grand Canyon

From the South Rim to the Colorado River and back in one day. Eighteen miles, took eleven hours. Twas very exhilerating. More details available upon request.

Other happy moments would be thread locking material

[KitchenWitch]

43. Watching my son's baseball team win the state tournament!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

44. The happiest moment in my life was in San Francisco

with friends in Golden Gate Park at midnight when the person I was with at the time sang to me. It was right here... it was an incredible moment..very real...very warm and incredibly romantic

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

45. Jokerman gave me a 2005 Mustang convertible for 40th b-day

A complete surprise. Put it in the garage with a big blue bow on it.
He had been working the Ford dealers for weeks on the sly, trying to find one in time for my 40th birthday. It's sonic blue with black racing stripes and top. A day and a gift I'll never be able to top. I am the luckiest woman on the planet!

[InvisibleTouch]

46. Okay, here's one:

It's nothing dramatic, just something I've always remembered fondly. I must have been, oh, 5 or 6 years old, walking in town with my mom or grandmother. A young man came up to us, a complete stranger. He had something behind his back, and asked me, "Would you like a Donald Duck?" My response to this was an articulate "Huh?" He asked again, with the same result. Then he produced an inflatable object from behind his back, proceded to blow it up in front of me, and lo and behold, it was a big colorful Donald Duck figure. This he presented to my delighted little-girl self, and went about his business. I probably still have that thing in a closet somewhere. :)