Walking on sunshine

As you might imagine from the name of this blog, I am pretty happy and content with my life.  It’s not about money.  Sherry and I are by no means wealthy in terms of dollars.  No, it’s mostly about celebrating what you have and those spontaneous moments that bring you joy.  This doesn’t have to be a complicated exercise.  In fact, the simpler the better in most cases.  Allow me to explain.

Yesterday afternoon at work I remembered we were out of coffee.  Now being a true coffee snob (this topic may be a post very soon) my coffee only comes from one place – Flying Goat.  If you’ve read my cycling blog, you know how much I like this place.  However, they close at 6:00 pm and that’s when I get off.  So, since it’s pretty close to work, I decide to pop over to The Goat.

I have a few things I am trying to wrap up, so I keep working until the moment feels right.  A couple of finished projects later, I look at the calendar to make sure there are no meetings and I am off.  As I start the 15-minute round trip, I am not thrilled with the song on the radio so I switch stations and that’s when it happened.  The new station was just starting the song Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

For reasons I can’t fully explain, this song just makes me smile.  It makes me happy to be alive.  Before I reach the first red light I am bouncing along in the car.  And this is not the first time.  This song lifts my spirits to a higher place every time I hear it.  I guess it’s just my feel good song or maybe it’s the song’s lyrics, which are all about feeling good about life.

I do remember one time in particular this song pulled me out of a funk.  I used to travel in my previous job, a lot.  One time I was delivering a training session in Washington, DC that ended on a Friday and I had to be in Baltimore on Monday to start a new session.  Since I live in California, flying home for 36 hours didn’t make sense so I spent the weekend on the East Coast.

I actually spent the time hiking in Shenandoah National Park.  It was beautiful and I was enjoying the great outdoors but I was also missing Sherry and feeling that certain loneliness that any business traveler can  describe.  By Sunday afternoon I was in a pretty sad state.  As I was driving out of the Appalachian Mountains to Baltimore, Walking on Sunshine came on the radio.  By the time the song was over I was back to my old self and feeling great.

If you don’t know the song, it was released in 1985.  This was just before I met Sherry.  It was also a favorite song of my Coast Guard roommate and we would rock out to it on our drives from California to his home in Oregon where I was always welcomed if I did not go home to Florida over the major holidays.  It was also a favorite at parties.  I imagine it still is a party favorite to this day.

In hindsight, maybe it is easier to explain the impact of this song then I thought.  It brings back great memories with good friends.  It reminds of how much I miss Sherry when I’m gone and how much I enjoy spending time with her when we’re together.

So, is there a message to all of this.  I think so.  I was having a pretty good work day yesterday and this song still made me stop and appreciate what I have.  It also put a big smile on my face.  I think everyone needs something like this.  I truly believe that it is necessary to grateful every day for the things you have and to not dwell on the things you don’t.

Now, why don’t you take a minute and go listen to your favorite song.  I’m smiling already.

Au revoir!