Shadow Proves the Sunshine

I have an interactive calendar on my computer desktop that I downloaded from American Greetings. Today, April 24th, is "Ambivalence Day". How odd. How NOT me. So I instant messaged Todd and told him about it, how I couldn't believe there is a "Ambivalence Day". He said, "Maybe you should sit this one out". My husband is so funny! He makes me laugh all the time. He knows that I'm the antithesis of ambivalency. We try to celebrate the wacky days, like "Talk Like a Pirate Day" on 9/19, or "Peanut Butter Lover's Day" on 3/2. But I feel strongly that I need to sit out this "Ambivalence Day". Get it? I feel strongly... hee hee. On Sat I was on the phone with Sally, making plans for the day, when she was describing the day so far, and she said, "It's good to be alive!". What a great thing to say, and what a great attitude to have. I've been thinking about what she said for a few days now. You all know about the recent passing of my mom. Even though I'm not sad all the time, I still have melancholy moments/days when I just miss her and it's hard to pull myself out of it. What Sally said inspired me to make my "It's good to be alive" list. It's Good to be Alive:

• when I walk outside at lunch, enjoying the sun, extremely blue skies, breezes, listening to John Mayer on my iPod.
• when Todd and I take a day off from work on a weekday just to enjoy each other's company and make it a point to have fun together. (More about yesterday later!)
• when I get an email from a friend just to say hello.
• when I make plans for the future without fear, knowing that God is in control.
• when I cry and aknowlege sadness.
• when I drive to work with my sunroof open, blasting Switchfoot.
• when I finish a digital layout and it looks good.
• when I learn something new that I didn't know before.
• when I sit so close to the field at Petco Park that I can smell the grass.
• during football and baseball season. (and March Madness)
• when I tell Todd, my dad, my sister, or a friend something and they completely understand.
• when I find my favorite things on sale.
• when I see monkeys, sea lions, or sea otters play.
• when I run at Miramar Lake, listening to John Mayer.
• when there's ice cream or chocolate, or both.
• when I put makeup on and it looks good.
• when that pair of skinny jeans fit (okay, so allow me two vanity entries).
• when I get waken up by the rain in the middle of the night, knowing that I'm safe and sound and protected inside my home.
• when the orange cat walks by my window.
• when I can do the headstand in yoga without help (this only happened once).
• when I can run faster & longer at 37 than at 27.
• when I help someone else in secret.
• when Fred next door brings us his fresh home-roasted coffee beans.
• when we scrap our healthy-cooking plans and order pizza ;-p

I'm sure there's more, so I'll add to the list when I think of other stuff. It's still good to be alive when things aren't going so well. If we didn't have "downs", then how would we have "ups"? Like the Switchfoot song says, "shadow proves the sunshine". Also, Todd has a t-shirt that says, "Without rain there wouldn't be any rainbows". That's really interesting to me, philosophically.