My Happy Days Are Coming To An End

  Posted on May 19, 2015 By

 34 Comments

Well, not really.  Rather, my daily photography of a happy moment is coming to an end.

When i started this exercise I intended to do 100 days straight.

And somehow, I am now on day 317!  And I haven’t missed a single day!

I have decided that day 365 will be my last.  I think a one year commitment is plenty.

This means I only have 48 days left.

Realizing how close I am to finishing an entire year of chronicling happy moments, means that I’ve also started to realize just how big of an accomplishment this is.  First, it means I I have taken at least one photo every single day for the last year with my Pentax K5.  This meant I was often lugging around my big camera, which was a pain in the butt on many days.  It also meant that Mr. MPB was basically forced to indulge my random happy moments, sometimes pulling the car over to capture something I saw from the side of the road or sometimes running around the house at 11pm trying to find a picture before the clock struck midnight.  And, many friends have given me funny, yet supportive, looks as I am seemingly taking random pictures of small details, because all my photos have been non-identifying.  Early on I just accepted that people might look at me funny and I have found myself explaining this happiness project to others frequently to curious people.

Ultimately, no matter how good or how bad the day was, I made a point to see happiness every single day.

Sometimes the happiness was significant adventure, like this moment from the top of the Empire State Building in NYC:

20141016 - 100HappyDays_Day95

Sometimes the moment was a small and simple, like noticing this simple flower sprouting up between the rocks:

20140930 - 100HappyDays_Day84

And other times my happy moment was courteous of Mr. MPB essentially forcing me to see something happy on a bad day, like this day when he brought me my favourite DQ blizzard because I was having a bad day.

20140805 - 100HappyDays_Day25

As I see this project coming to an end I’ve started developing a list of things I want to photograph as happy moments in the next 48 days.  Which essentially means I’ve started a list of things that make me happy that I want to include.  I guess in a way, it’s like a 365 happy days bucket list.

So far, my list potentially achievable things includes:

  • Bike the Legacy Trail from Canmore to Banff and back on our road bikes.  It’s 40 km (25mi) round trip and actually not the most strenuous ride (we’ve done it before), but I love the scenery and I really want to take a day and enjoy the mountains on my bike.
  • Play with our nephews.  These kids just make me so happy, and I want to capture some happy moments with them.  The catch is that they do not live in the same city as us, so we have to take a road trip to visit them.
  • A hike in the mountains.
  • A golf game with friends.
  • Celebrate being official waiting adoptive parents!  Within the next 48 days our profile should start being shown to potential birth mom’s which means we will be so close to being parents.

And now that this project is coming to an end, I also find myself wondering how exactly does one finish 365 days of happy photos?  How do I celebrate my final day?  I feel as though the project should end with an epic happy moment.  But, I have no idea what that is.  So, I am giving up responsibility for the day to Mr. MPB!  He gets to surprise me with a happy moment.  His assignment is relatively simple – it has to be something that will undoubtedly put a smile on my face and something special that we will always remember together. Simple, but full of pressure!  If you have any ideas feel free to make suggestions in the comments as I have no doubt he will be looking for a great idea.

If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.

 Category: #100HappyDays, Photography      Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

34 Comments on “My Happy Days Are Coming To An End”

  1. I am so glad you shared your happy moments with us! It has been a great reminder that there is always something to be happy about, to be thankful for. And, I’m excited that you are swapping your “100 happy days” for “infinity happy days” very soon, once you are matched with your adopted child!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    • Thank you so much my friend! I am touched that my project was able to help you too see that there is always something to be happy about. And, I am beyond excited for the next happy days project to begin in our lives!!!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. I am so going to miss your happy photos! I look forward to them every Sunday!!! Thank you for sharing happy moments with us and making so many of us smile each week. Proud of you for doing this for a full year because I have started and stopped so many times (like haven’t made it through a full week, lol) and I was letting myself use my phone! 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    • I can honestly say at 100 days I seriously considered my options and whether or not to continue. Approaching 365 days there is absolutely no doubt that I’m done. It’s been such a wonderful exercise at such a critical time in my life, but I am ready to not be carrying my camera around with me every day! Oh, and I’m also really excited to be able to start to eat my meals when they are ready, rather then salivating as I take 5 minutes to get the perfect photo! That said, I do hope I continue to take photos of random things. 🙂
      Thank you so much for your encouragement and your thoughtful and kind support. I love knowing that you looked forward to my happy photos. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I love your photos – well done for keeping going and its great that you have a new challenge for the future too. Brilliant! xx

    Like

    Reply

  4. That’s the best way to end the project! I was starting to get nervous when you were putting so much emphasis on the very last day, but handing that responsibility over to your husband is brilliant.
    Having started and stopped and started a similar happy-thing-a-day project, I completely comprehend just how difficult it is. I’ve since committed to just writing something down, but even then there are days where I look over my day and just go “what could possibly have been happy about that??” But you’re right – it forces you to look at the small things sometimes, the details, the flowers between the rocks, if you will.
    I’m looking forward to seeing all these last, great things, and what Mr MPB comes up with. No pressure!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I too think it’s brilliant to hand over the responsibility to Mr. MPB, that said, I’m not sure he thinks it’s my most brilliant plan ever! 🙂
      Thanks for sharing your thoughts on writing something down – it’s funny, I’ve had the exact same thought looking back at some photos. I find myself thinking, really, I took a photo of that?!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. That is such an accomplishment. Congratulations! I love the idea of celebrating the last day and can’t wait to hear what Mr. MPB comes up with.

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks so much! I too am excited to see what Mr. MPB comes up with!! All i know is that it will be mid-week and he’s promised to take the day off from work, so it should be a fun day! 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  6. You were asking for an idea for celebrating this next milestone on your adoption ideas…Maybe getting all your 365 photos printed into a nice coffee table book? Since the timing of the 365 days ending and your profile being shared with adoptive parents seems to coincide so beautifully?!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Congrats for sticking it through ’til the end! I started one of those and stopped around day 27. Lazy!

    Like

    Reply

    • Thanks Lindsay! It’s funny, I never for a second thought I’d end up doing this for an entire year! Part of me is sad to see it coming to an end, and another part of me is really excited to not be carrying a giant DSLR with me everywhere I go! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. what an accomplishment to be able to look back on and know that for an entire year you were able to capture things that made you happy. It just goes to show that no matter what the situation there is always something that can make you smile.

    Like

    Reply

    • You are so right, if nothing else this project has shown me that no matter what, there is always something that is going on in our lives that is happy. Some-days it might just be something small and that’s okay.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. I love this project, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful pictures every week! It’s a great reminder to find the happy moments in every single day. I’m looking forward to your last pic – maybe skydiving?!? Hahaha

    Like

    Reply

    • Thank you so much Erin! I’ve actually been skydiving before! Truthfully, it was fun, but I have no real desire to jump out of a plane again 🙂
      I have no idea what he will come up with, but I am confident that it will make me happy!

      Like

      Reply

  10. Yay!! Way to defer to Mr. MPB.

    Actually, I loved waitingbetweenthelines’ suggestion. A coffee table book is a wonderful idea.

    Squeezes,
    Dani

    Like

    Reply

  11. I must say, I’m really sad that this project is coming to an end! I really look forward to your happy pics every week. They always put a smile on my face and make me realize that even on the worst of days, there has to be SOMETHING that’s good about it. Can’t wait to see what Mr.MPB comes up with!

    Like

    Reply

  12. I absolutely love your photos. I am so glad you are sharing a total of 365 days of photos with us. I always love seeing your happy photos.

    Like

    Reply

  14. That’s so impressive! A pic a day for a year blows my mind! That means at least once a day you were truly living in the moment and being grateful for where you were, what you were doing, or who you were with. Wow, friend!

    Like

    Reply

    • Well, I don’t want to count my chicks before they hatch, I could still miss a day (although, at this point I’m pretty determined so for me to miss a day I’m pretty much going to have to be in a coma and literally unable).
      But you are right, it is a pretty big accomplishment to be at least for one moment a day, for an entire year, to be happy! That’s pretty awesome. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. I’m a huge fan of your happy moments photography and will be eagerly awaiting the final segments! I like all of your ideas. Honestly, the ones I’ve enjoyed the most are the very spontaneous everyday ones.

    Like

    Reply

Thoughts? I love hearing from you!

Follow My Perfect Breakdown on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Top Posts & Pages
Copyright
Unless otherwise cited, all content, photos & text, are property of the author of "My Perfect Breakdown" and cannot be reproduced without permission. Should you like to use something, please contact the author for permission.

My Perfect Breakdown

Blog at WordPress.com.