{"id":2816,"date":"2012-02-20T20:09:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T03:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/?p=2816"},"modified":"2025-05-23T17:31:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T22:31:27","slug":"learning-to-be-happy-monday-february-20th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/learning-to-be-happy-monday-february-20th\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Be Happy- Monday February 20th"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hazel began life with a very mild, relaxed expression. \u00a0She cried when she needed help, but other than that she seemed sort of contentedly aloof. As she got a few weeks older, she started opening her eyes more and studying us. \u00a0I pretended I wasn’t worrying that I wasn’t measuring up to her expectations. \u00a0“I’m usually much funnier than this,” I would say as we stared at each other “you’ll see, when I get a good night’s sleep I’m so funny.” \u00a0Hazel would blink passively. \u00a0Another week or two went by. \u00a0She stuck out her tongue, I started to actually enjoy breastfeeding (it still hurts like hell though). \u00a0Her staring started to feel more concerted.<\/p>\n

Then she smiled. \u00a0A day or so after that she smiled and squealed. \u00a0Another few days and I figured out what made her smile. \u00a0It’s seems like Hazel had learned how to be happy.<\/p>\n

This was the moment that I really didn’t understand would happen: the moment when I finally realized that I have a whole new life ahead of me. \u00a0Watching a child arrive on earth with a personality really makes you reconsider your own life and experiences. \u00a0Happiness is something you have to learn and practice, even when you’re too young to work or have heartache or worry about making car payments. \u00a0There are a few times in my life when I felt hopelessly unhappy, and I decided to change. \u00a0I forced myself to smile more and accept invitations and after a few weeks (maybe it was months, maybe even years) I was a happier person. \u00a0But it took work and practice, and watching my daughter go through her first phase of learning to be happy is exciting and scary. \u00a0I hate to think of the days where she lays tangled in dirty sheets on a crappy college bed, pressing the snooze button 36 times until she has safely missed all her classes and can spend her day smoking cigarettes, eating Mr Goodbars and watching Blind Date. \u00a0I can’t stand to think of the first party she doesn’t get invited to, her first disappointing grade, her first broken heart. \u00a0Hopefully she can help me gain some perspective so I don’t go on a murderous rampage the first time she has hurt feelings.<\/p>\n

Hazel and Tom and I are in this together. \u00a0Seeing how much Hazel does on her own make me breath a little easier. \u00a0She and I can be partners in her happiness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hazel began life with a very mild, relaxed expression. \u00a0She cried when she needed help, but other than that she seemed sort of contentedly aloof. As she got a few weeks older, she started opening her eyes more and studying us. \u00a0I pretended I wasn’t worrying that I wasn’t measuring up to her expectations. \u00a0“I’m … Continue reading “Learning to Be Happy- Monday February 20th”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3312,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions\/3312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}