The internet is ablaze about a woman laughing for a few minutes while trying on a Chewbacca mask. Already the video, up live on Facebook, has had 120 million+ views. And surprisingly, no negative comments, no one spouting hate. People 100+ million people just wanted to see the joy, a person having fun, not having anything bad to say about something, or spreading any more negativity in the world. Our lives today are so inundated with negativity, or wars and disease, people killing each other, of terrorism and prejudice, that we marvel at the ability of somebody to just.enjoy.the.moment.

I have a friend like that. Her name is Carla, and she is one of the most positive people I know. It’s not hard to get her to laugh. She likes the little things. She randomly texts you if she sees something that reminds her of you. She gets a blissful look on her face after one drink, because she knows that there are more coming with conversations about nothing and everything and that gets her truly and sincerely giddy.

It’s hard finding people that are genuinely optimistic these days, but she is. Her heart, even with its bruises and cracks, is still filled with hope. She’s not the type to spout inspirational messages, but you can tell that she gets inspired. She’s happy with the smell of coffee, or her dog smiling at her from his side of the bed.

That’s one of the reasons I really like having her as a friend. She’s a ray of sunshine, without being too saccharine. We throw dirty jokes around and finish inappropriate statements that would get us into trouble with our conservative friends, but gets the conversation going with the rest of the group. She can find the good side of any person without being too naïve about the reality of the world. She’s seen her share of bad things and have been deliberately hurt by some, but that doesn’t keep her from seeing the opportunities of others.

She puts herself out there, which is hard in itself, and she makes the effort to truly get to know them before deciding if they’re a good fit. She gives them too much chances even, putting her feelings on the line for theirs more often than not.

I marvel at her ability to love and give to others. I see her so tired but still willing to go out if a friend or family asks her to. Maybe it’s being the eldest of five girls, maybe it’s just her, but I’m lucky to count her as a friend.

The world has enough critics, pessimists, enough people like me that have found the cynical edge in every gesture. I hope life never gets to her this way. No matter what she goes through, I hope she still finds the silver lining, because the world needs more of her kind. We all do.

Do you have a friend like her? Do your hardest to keep them. They’re rare, rarer than moonrock in a museum. Rarer than pink diamonds. They are hope, and one should never find themselves without hope.

I remember growing up, my parents (mostly my mom who kept the budget), always made sure we had what we needed. We weren’t (and are still not) rich. We’ve made it by with hard work and practical choices, like picking the sturdier shoe that would last as long as it fit, and grocery editing to “Do you want it or do you need it?” Truly, I was raised to know that function mattered most and when we had extra, we still had to put it aside for emergencies. Being CPAs and having the same job for years, my parents were of the generation of stability, and lived it to the letter. Get a job that pays the bills that will earn you a decent retirement after decades of service. Every choice was made to give us the best life they could provide, all the while looking towards a future we would still need to think of, and preparing for the unknown.
That is to say, my parents still thought of providing the best for us, to what they could afford. My mom, when we were growing up and she was busy with her job, took us to restaurants (and not just cooked at home which my father preferred and was the more practical choice) that were nice. My favorite was Pancake House, where we would get chocolate chip pancakes, tacos, a rootbeer float or a milkshake, and a banana split if we were a group. It wasn’t the fanciest, (or really, the healthiest) but it made for some of my favorite memories.

My father would bring us pizza and ice cream sometimes after a late night and we would eat it post bedtime. It was always Pizza Hut’s Super Supreme and Selecta’s Queso Royale. It was amazing because we would be woken up for junk food and got to laugh with our dad, who at the time would be less uptight because of a fun night of drinking.

For me, because I knew those moments were rare, and that it took time, money and effort to get there. Even if I did hate churros at Dulcinea growing up, I could remember heading out to try it one of those weekends. Until now my favorite pizza is from the Hut, no special crusts, just the same flavor, as the greasy, overfilled pie still brings fun night time memories with my family.

My childhood was 80%  practical and 20% moments like these sprinkled in, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What are your favorite moments from your childhood?

Lately I’ve been thinking about happiness. What makes people happy, what keeps them smiling day to day even through unconquerable pain and suffering, or grit through the small, frustrating things of the MRT always being full, or your hair smelling like fried chicken after a good lunch at a wings place.

Joy. It’s so elusive to so many people, who complain about every little thing and forget about what comes their way.

I know I’m lucky. The two things that make me smile every day can be summed up in the photo below:

Chunky (left) and Chester (right). Our two bunnies that are so weird, but so cute I can’t even stay mad when they chew on the furniture. I’m just happy to have rabbits in my life again, and keeping them healthy is a big priority in my life. It is so difficult to find their main staple, hay, in the Philippines, that I always buy a month’s worth of food each time. Every time I’m at the mall I buy a bag of their treats, rabbit pellets at the pet store. I cut their nails every week, which does not make them happy but keeps them from getting problems. Change their bedding once a day. Get them something green and a tiny bit of fruit to nibble on to keep them happy. They’re spayed and neutered to give them a longer chance in life. My favorite time is vitamin feeding time because they actually run up to me to get it.

Rabbits are not known for being cuddly, even if they look it. Most of them absolutely hate being picked up. They’re even more elusive than cats. Chunky growls and boxes you if you take too long to give her her treat. Chester bites my hand at night if he’s hungry at 2 am and the hay bowl is empty.

Those faces though.

I guess you can say I’ve found two beings I will love for their whole lives. I just hope they live very long ones.

I have decided that 2016 is going to be the year of the yes. Life is short, and we don’t know when our life decides to end. And due to the aforementioned turning thirty, I find myself wanting to do more than what I used to, because of circumstances and events I cannot control.

Now that my life is a little bit more under my purview, I want this year (and the years to come) to be more of a year of saying yes. Yes to things I haven’t tried before. To experiences that I might not initially find enjoyable, but will grow to love. I am getting too old (see: knees) to keep saying no before I literally cannot physically do some of the things I’ve been asked to do (see: parasailing). It is time to get out of my bubble and see the world, try crazy things, see more of my people (actually, find out who my people really are).

One such Yes was a dayhike last January 9th. Our friends who have been climbing mountains for more than a decade had asked if we wanted to go along. On a whim, my sister and I said yes, not really knowing what to do, what to bring, what gear we needed. They just said it would take 2-3 hours to go up the peak, and the same going down. So we thought, easy peasy right? Wrong.

How could I forget about my almost crippling fear of heights that doesn’t even let me go on the rollercoasters on theme parks? Or the fact that my knees make me wince just bending down to pick up my bunnies? Or that the shoes I was going to wear were for running and have been worn down considerably in the last 4 years?

Well. I forgot about that and just went along. I even went for a few bottles of beer the night before to get the edge off.

That was a mistake. I couldn’t sleep the night before and we got there painfully lacking sleep and completely unprepared. While the views were spectacular and the air quite fresh, I couldn’t focus much on the beauty of the environment so much as I tried to concentrate on not falling down unto it. My shoes were wrong and kept slipping, my feet and instincts picked the wrong footholds or the most difficult paths. My knees were, like my spirit, a wreck, that I stopped at one point and refused to go on, knowing that if I did, it would just make my trip completely unenjoyable. The part of the path that made me give up was steeply pointing down with no foothold, loose soil and rocks, and nothing to hold on to. So I sat next to the dog that came along, the better footed golden retriever named Blue who was the highlight of my day. I stayed at the rest stop, enjoyed the view, had a ton of chips, lukewarm water, shots of wine and whisky, and ate the rest of my snacks. As it was a literal line (with an actual rope) up the summit, our whole group didn’t stay long past my “quit point” anyway.

So my first jaunt up the mountains wasn’t a resounding success. Most first attempts for me are. I want to try again though, with better shoes and hopefully, stabler knees. I’ll make a mountain goat of myself yet, and if not, at least I can say I tried for real. Because that view was, even if it made me shake, beautiful, and there is enough in me to want to.

What did you say yes to recently?