Happy New Year!
It’s New Year’s Day, time for resolutions. At Happy Cabin, we resolve to spend quality time together, eat well, and play more. Last year, we chipped away at these goals, in part by launching Happy Cabin. We envisioned a place where we could make memories as a family, reconnect with nature, and unplug from the demands of our daily lives. We may have underestimated just how much work it would take to get Happy Cabin off the ground.
Happy Cabin came furnished, with years of history crammed into closets and drawers, dirty carpets, and a hodge-podge of bed frames, throw pillows, crockery, and dressers that didn’t make sense together. A heavy edit was required. There was a lot of handiwork, from floor laying to painting and cleaning. Happy Cabin needed a forced air heating system and tankless water heater to be comfortable. We had to buy and move furniture in and out, stock the kitchen, search for the perfect linens, design art for the walls, and give Grandpa moral support while he built the redwood bunk beds. A lot of thought went into how to make the cabin stylish and comfortable without completely breaking the bank.
In the meantime, Eben and I both worked our “normal” jobs, tucking the Happy Cabin task list into weekends, after-hours, and vacation days. The kids’ extra-curriculars didn’t stop for our new project. There was still school, dance, gymnastics, homework… Frankly, it took a lot out of us. Sometimes, the “Happy Cabin” sign over the door seemed more ironic than anything else. Between the sweat, tears, sleepless nights, and endless driving, I sometimes asked myself, “What have we done?!” What have we done?
Last night, after work, Eben and I went to the Dollar Store and picked up balloons, noise makers, and party hats. Appropriately enough, the balloons had happy faces on them. We tucked the happy-face balloons into garbage bags hung from the chandeliers, put on the party hats and jewelry, and turned on the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Except it never happened. Instead, midnight in New York City came and went without the countdown, which Eben and I both agreed had never happened in the history of our longish lives. What to do? We were all dressed up with nowhere to go, the children poised to celebrate, the balloons perched precariously above our heads. We made the executive decision to start counting. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Fumble with the scissors. Toss balloons at the kids. Toot the noisemaker. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Eben and I made complete fools of ourselves, trying to sell a New Year’s celebration at what was essentially 9:06 p.m. Maris danced around delightedly, floating balloons, and tooting songs. Anaya was initially perplexed by the ridiculousness of the situation but eventually caught the spirit, joining in a balloon fight. And, at the end of it all, Eben pulled me into a hug, and said, “Look what we’ve done.” For a minute, I thought he meant the disaster we’d made of our living room. “We have these two amazing kids, this home, a cabin. We could have never imagined…”
We could have never imagined. Every year of my life has brought wild surprises. I suppose this year will be no different. No matter what we resolve, or how much we plan, or how much we desire things to be a certain way, life is capricious. All I know is that, at 9:06 p.m. last night, my heart swelled with love and gratitude and hope. 2019, I’m ready for you.
Happiness isn’t always obvious. Sometimes, it’s hidden beneath years of clutter and you have to do some renovation to find it. Sometimes it takes work, a lot of work, so much work that you forget why you started this project in the first place. Sometimes, it’s not at all what you were expecting. But then, there you are, laughing, getting clobbered by happy-face balloons. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
To visit Happy Cabin during your trip to North Lake Tahoe / Tahoe Vista / Kings Beach, click here.