Happy Things Friday: 1 May

I am gobsmacked.

Today marks the official halfway point of our trip. Somehow, when we left Canada, 3.5 months sounded like… forever. And now we’re moving closer and closer to wrapping up this grand adventure.

And part of that adventure is enduring regular life upheavals. The main one this week has been a nasty virus. John came down with a bad head cold first. Just as he started to mend, I caught it. We were both pretty miserable, and then it hit the kids. One kiddo in particular was levelled. At one point, their fever hit 41°C, and we were Googling Helsinki hospitals.

Thankfully, fever reducers worked their magic, and fairly quickly everything settled into an equilibrium—but it was scary and intense and, stating the obvious here, NOT FUN.

Helsinki has been cold and windy (at one point there was minor hail; another time, with windchill, it was -10°C).

We’ve mostly been cooped up in our apartment battling illness.

In other words, it hasn’t been an auspicious start to Finland.

Thankfully, I have a Happy Things Friday gratitude practice for times like this. I guess the first Happy Thing for today’s post is the fact that today is not yesterday or the day before that… or the day before that.

FEVER REDUCERS

I cannot imagine living in a world without acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Imagine the absolute terror of fevers before we had these drugs. I am forever grateful for their discovery.

MY KOBO

I know I listed my e-reader last week in my Happy Things Friday post, but it deserves another mention. I have been very short on solo time (I did manage four hours on Saturday, and that has been it over the last three weeks; in case you’ve forgotten, I’m an introvert who thrives on alone time).

I’ll admit my sleep hasn’t been great. In part because I’ve been up with sick kids, but on the nights no one has needed me, I wait until everyone’s asleep and then escape into books. It’s a quiet time I crave, and the Kobo is amazing. A dozen books at my fingertips! No light to manage!

My sleep stats are horrible, and I’m partly to blame. Also, THANK GOODNESS FOR MY KOBO!

BLOG FRIENDS

My mood is often buoyed by someone’s comment or email.

This week, Engie’s comment came at exactly the moment I needed to read something like it:

This did make me feel better!

COOL BLOGGERS WALKING CLUB

While it felt like I spent all day, every day inside our apartment this week, in reality I got outside for a walk daily.

I know with absolute certainty I wouldn’t have prioritized movement without this incentive.

Also, yesterday was the last day of walking. Thanks to everyone who has emailed in photo collages and updates. If you have pictures to include in the final roundup, I’ll be posting that next week. Feel free to email them to: optimisticmusings {at} gmail {dot} com

(And don’t forget to let me know where you’re walking in the world!)

BONUS HAPPY THINGS

I know I listed some of these last week, but I think that’s part of my dedication to gratitude: the gift of noticing, on repeat, the same things that bring joy.

• Access to a dishwasher.
• Access to a washing machine.
• Access to a hot shower. The kids took hours of showers this week while battling cold chills and stuffed sinuses. So, so thankful.
• Grocery stores. Food at my fingertips and a relatively short walk from my door.
• My first coffee each day.
• Delicious homemade wraps for supper—twice. They were so good I was literally moaning.
• A long weekend. May 1st is a very popular national holiday in Finland called Vappu, or May Day, which is their equivalent to North American Labour Day.

Help buoy my fatigued spirits even more and tell me some Happy Things from your week!