A Cup of Coffee

Smalltime happiness

I had a day full of little tokens of happiness.

It started early, when I had to take my son Bernardo to an educational psychologist office. This lady is going to evaluate his problems in learning. It was a tense session for him, and when he is tense, he jiggles his knees non stop, twists and turns in his seat. Some time in the middle of the session, I started to smooth his back as I used to do when he was a baby. He stopped all that motion, and I could feel he was relaxing. It was sweet in a non-intentional kind of way.

Then I went to work to organize a cover story for this weekend. It is the profile of a well known chef I happen to know for a long time. I talked with him for a long time, which allowed me to indulge in many of my curiosities about his life and work. After a while, I got a surprising bit of information. He told me of the turning point of his career, when he had a restaurant in New York, and spoke intensely of how important that was for him to prove his worth for his family in France. It was surprising. I had read many articles on this guy, but I never found him talking about this so candidly. And it was rewarding to me.

I had lunch with a co-worker that became my close friend, though we had some misunderstandings on the way. Now she has come to trust me and I am short of words to say how important this is. I told her all about Friday party, I heard her stories and recent shortcomings. We went to the mall after lunch for a dark chocolate bar (for me) and a chocolate liquor filled tiny bottle (for her). We decided that we deserved it. It was slighty naughty, but fun.

I heard from a dear friend. I got an invitation for dinner. I heard news about my construction (my new furniture is about to arrive). I called my parents in the spa town. I learned that my son Luiz managed to get a good grade in Literature. I finished my working day having a nice conversation with the chef's wife in the half empty restaurant. She told me about living in France, family life and the choices they had to make along the way. And it was interesting.

I feel happy today, filled with a happiness made of small, gentle graces. I am almost hopeful again, but I am afraid it will break the charm. 

posted by Livia de Almeida @ 10:03 PM