7 quick takes of happiness

Sometimes I am so happy that it feels as if my heart will burst. Other days I could do with a dose of happiness and I wish that I could have captured the overflow from other days to give a boost on the harder ones. If anyone knows how to do that, let me know. For now I have tried to capture a few of those very happy moments in writing, the closest I can get to capturing them.

1.  We sit at one of the tables in the open restaurant at our lodge. The girls 'help' me while I sew some bunting. Next to us are palm trees and a perfectly still blue lake. A fish eagle is soaring over the water, not very succesful in its attempts to catch something. My phone plays the soundtrack of the Sound of Music and the girls and I sing along on the top of our voices, giggling and perfectly happy.
2. We are in church, which is not more than a room because the actual church in under construction. There are no musical instruments but a choir of enthousiastic voices sing a song. I don't know the words but the tune is familiar and I hum along with tears in my eyes. It is so great to serve a God who connects people accross languages and cultures.
3. 6 am on the ferry. Sophie and I are awake and walk from the stuffy and packed lower deck where we slept in a windowless cabin to the near empty top deck where we walk in the first morning light. Mountains glide past and we are on our way to a place that we had never heard about a year ago but now feels like home. Next to the boat glide three kingfishers who scan the lake for some breakfast, in the distance are some fishermen in dug outs with the same goal in mind. Sophie's hand finds mine while we admire the view and share a moment of quiet happiness.
4. The kitchen is empty, we are awaiting a veg delivery but I manage to get all my creativity together. Evenings where much creativity is needed usually end with a curry meal. Curries are very forgiving when ingredients are missing and you can make it work with what you is available. The meal puts a smile on the customers faces; they tell me it's one of the best meals they had in a long time.
5. After arriving on our signal hill I connect my ohone to the internet. Messages stream in. One of them is a long voicenote from a friend. We have mostly done away with emails and the post is so slow that snail mail isn't really an option but voice notes are amazing. When I close my eyes I can image myself sitting at my friend's kitchen table, sharing life over a cup of tea. I love listening to the familiar voices while in the background I hear their kids play, their dog bark or their kettle whistle.
6. One of my favourite things here is snorkling in the dazzling blue water. We live at the deepest part of the lake and the drop in the water is very steep. I like to swim out a little and submerge myself. When you then turn around all you can see is blue water, rays of sunshine and schools of fish swiming past you. It's magical.
7. New guests walk in. We introduce ourselves and learn their names and where they are from. The guests tell they are from Finland/Italy/Chile/France/USA/New Zealand or any other country in the world. Sophie looks it up in her mapbook and during our communual dinner we learn about their country, culture and language. They tell stories about their travels and adventures and the girls soak it all up. We don't need to visit the world because the world comes to us!