Many years ago I read a book called “A Fortunate Life” by Albert Facey. In it he told his life story and it seemed to me that he lived through some pretty hard times, his father died when he was a small child and his mother left him and his siblings in the care of his grandmother, he had to go to work at the age of eight and didn’t get much schooling. Two of his brothers were killed in World War I and Albert himself was wounded. His eldest son was killed in World War II. Yet he chose the title for his book, published just before his death aged 88, because he said that he believed that he’d truly had a fortunate life.

I guess that goes to show that it is all in how you look at it. Times can be tough, we all have loss, disappointment and sometimes worse to deal with in our lives but maybe the point Albert wanted to make is that we should not dwell on those but look for the positives.

I too feel that I’ve had a fortunate life. I haven’t always had a lot of money but it’s been mostly happy.  Not long ago a WordPress Daily Post asked us to make a bucket list of things we’d like to do. This is my bucket list of things that make me happy.

• I still, despite the aches and pains of late middle age, have my health
• My memories of good times in the past
• The funny antics of pets
• Beautiful places, you may not be able to eat scenery but it’s good for the soul
• People who “get” me
• Taking journeys, especially to somewhere new
• Living in Australia, still the lucky country compared to many others
• Laughter, it really is the best medicine
• Being useful, either at a job, volunteering or just helping someone out.
• Beating England at cricket 🙂

The photo below is of a plaque in the main street of my town. I don’t know who wrote the poem but believe it was somebody local.  I like living in a town that puts poetry and memorials to ordinary people in its main street.

What makes you happy?