APRIL 22, 2014

A fascinating thought hit me while pondering the 100 Happy Days concept this afternoon, at least fascinating to me, although thinking back, my breakthrough isn’t so earth-shattering.

The notion is this: a person’s happy day posts say a lot about who they are. Duh, right? Sure we’re getting a glimpse into someone’s life through what they chose to post, but the analysis goes deeper, to what portrait this collection of images paint. This observation came about from watching the happy day posts of people I know.

Mom’s posts usually show her pickleball tournaments, lunches with friends, and of course my dad and the grand kids. What does this show? One social bird, that’s what! (My adorable mommy is smack dab in the middle, in black. Isn’t she so cute?)

Jenny’s posts, mostly show life with her fabulous pre-teen twins, a picture perfect, healthy active mom.

A co-worker posts images with the people in her life who have helped her through a tough year, a true portrait of love.

The lovely girly who inspired me to do the Happy Day challenge, Sheri Bomb, posts awesome rockabilly lifestyle shots.

Notice something all pictures share? PEOPLE!!

And then you look at my collection of images. They paint a portrait of a… nature loving loner? Really? Other than my first day pic including my feller, I show no people! Cars–like this adorable Falcon Wagon I followed today–yes, but no people!

Whoa. Am I really that anti-social? Dang. At least I have this adorable squirrel no one but me and Sheri Bomb love.

Okay. While we ponder the deep topic of who we are though our pictures, let’s move on to the news day.

After shooting two interviews for an update on a high school cheating scandal, our managers moved us to another story. Frustrating, yes, but happens a lot.

Our next story followed up on an incident from the weekend, when a man leaving a Duck’s Hockey game crossed a major street illegally, jumped a concrete k-rail divider between the two lanes, not realizing it was an open bridge between, and fell 40 feet.

He survived, but we found out a man six years ago–in the exact scenario–wasn’t so lucky. Our report explored the idea of if, and what should be done. By the way, if you look real close in Vikki’s picture above, you’ll see me down there under the road.

The news story:

By four o’clock, I still didn’t have my happy picture–and I needed one, considering the nature of the story. And then it hit me. Each time I went back and forth between the newsvan and the bridge, I’d look at this weed, and the bright pop of yellow against the dry dirt made me smile. Considering it’s Earth Day, I decided nothing could be more appropriate for my Happy Day pic, than this lovely gift from Mother Nature.

I promise, no wacky deep thoughts tomorrow.

Until then…

Later gators!