Simple Joys

Welcome to Simple Joys on Chief 187™Chatter.

Thanksgiving Week is finally here and my heart is bursting. This has been a year full of twists and turns, heartache and heart-soaring, and everything in between. I tried to give up Simple Joys for a bit, but I couldn’t stand it.

Simple Joys offers me an outlet to focus on the positives in my life. It allows me the incredible gift of perspective. Simple Joys gives me balance and forces me to recognize that not only do I have much to be thankful, but that I am truly blessed.

And now, without further ado, is this week’s Simple Joys.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – It’s been a long time since I’ve indulged and truly enjoyed a network television series. My family discovered the Marvel blockbuster movies this past spring and has been watching every one we can. When we heard about the television show connected to the movie franchise, we tuned in to watch. The greatness of the program keeps us coming back.

We always sit down together as a family – once my four-year-old daughter is sleeping – to watch the action. And I can tell you, being hooked on the show is an intense and rollicking great Simple Joy.

Christmas Music – I am one of those people who loves the Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I refuse to decorate my home in Christmas decorations until the day after Turkey Day, but hearing the music sometime after Halloween makes me smile from the inside out.

It must do that for other people. I remember not too many years ago I’d be lucky to hear a Christmas song occasionally on the air in the days leading up to Christmas and then only on Christmas Eve and Day would the station go to 24 hours of seasonal songs.

But in recent years the Christmas music starts the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year I heard one station turn their format over to all Christmas music two weeks before Turkey Day! It seems that people are looking for feel-good music nowadays.

Whatever the reason, I am relishing every moment of 24/7 Christmas music on my radio stations. It’s a Simple Joy I look forward to every year and makes me giddy!

Bowling – My boys have been doing a Rec bowling deal after school one day a week. They are having a lot of fun although they’re not great bowlers. Friends of ours love to bowl so they suggested we hit the lanes over the weekend. We had the best time. My husband, daughter, and I got to bowl along with the boys and our friends for an afternoon of fun, exercise, and friendship.

We’ve decided to add bowling to our weekend adventures and that is a Simple Joy to look forward to often!

Falling Asleep on the Couch – The first Friday night I have had off in a long time was spent at home taking care of my children, wrapping some gifts for the holidays, and sitting on my couch to watch a program that did not involve racing, social media, or, well, thinking of any kind. I was fully vested in the program when what seemed like all of a sudden my husband came out of nowhere to wake me up.

Apparently someone had struck me with a sleep stick, my couch tried to swallow me, and I was defenseless to it all!

It’s a rare treat, but falling asleep on my couch on a Friday night after accomplishing much was a most decadent Simple Joy.

Off season – I love NASCAR and racing passionately, but, like any job, I enjoy a vacation. The off-season is here just in time for me to throw myself into the holiday season. I can make Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons enjoyable and full for my family and friends – we host EVERYTHING – and recharge my batteries.

On the flip side, I still want to connect to all of my friends who hang with me on the Drafting the Circuits Facebook page, read my articles, and listen to the show. The off-season allows me myriad ways to do that that do not revolve around a specific race venue.

Having an off-season to reconnect with loved ones, enjoy the holiday season, and get psyched for the 2014 season is a long-awaited, much-appreciated, and highly anticipated Simple Joy.

This time of year always makes me nostalgic. Looking back on the year that was I see my friends’ list has grown tenfold, some friendships repaired, some irreparable and discarded for mental health, and other relationships tended.

Simple Joys is a gift I give myself – and one I share with you.
I hope that my ramblings of my personal Simple Joys inspire you to find your own.

And I hope that on this Thanksgiving Week you take a moment to remember to take the time to experience all of the Simple Joys available to you.

For me, you all are all my Simple Joys.

Thank you.

Wishing you a week full of Simple Joys and a very Happy Thanksgiving!