Day 11: What was your biggest moment of joy this year?

Spring break, this year, kiddo got sent off to my Mom's, and LIBF and I had some time to ourselves.  We also, coincidentally, had some extra cash for once.  So we decided to take a vacation --not a long vacation, nothing elaborate.  But we decided to, finally, go explore the Olympic Peninsula a bit.

We drove out to Port Angeles in the middle of the week, and snagged a hotel room for 2 nights.  And the next day, we went out to find ourselves a decent hike.  And hike we did.  To the top of Marymere falls, and back, before lunch.  I have pictures galore of that in my G+ account, somewhere.

After the falls, we had a good half day left to burn.  So we decided to just drive along the coast, see what there was to see.  We were tourists, after all.  What else was there to do other than sight see?  So we drove out to the tip of the peninsula -- got ourselves a little lost in an Indian reservation, because there is no cell service out there at all, and our phones' maps weren't working properly because of it.  And on the way back, we decided to stop at one of the little beaches that we'd seen along the way.

It was low tide when we finally found a good spot to pull off.  We were the only people on the rocks.  And there were tidepools.  Tidepools with starfish, and hermit crabs, and limpets, and anemones, and even some with little fish swimming around in them.

I was a little kid again.  I was dragging LIBF from tidepool to tidepool by his sleeve, voice high and girly calling out "Ooh!  Lookit this!" when I'd see another little bitty living thing moving around.  I was giggling over slipping on the rocks a little, and giggling over all the bitty sea creatures, and giggling at the sand and salt stinging my face in the cold wind.  When I picked up a hermit crab and let it crawl around in the palm of my hand, I squealed as it pinched me.  I was happy.  I was so happy, I was proclaiming how happy I was.  And LIBF was happy to see me happy, and he laughed at my childlike exuberance.

I didn't mind that I was getting my shoes wet, or that the cuffs of my jeans were sand encrusted.  Actually, the opposite.  I loved it.  My hands were freezing cold from the ocean water, but I kept bending down and scooping things up anyway, finding perfect limpet shells in the sand to sneak into a pocket to take home.  Those shells are on my desk right now, actually, reminding me about that day.

When we were finally too cold to stay out on the beach anymore, and the sun was starting to sink a bit, we got back into the car and headed in the general direction of the hotel.  And on that drive back... Driving from bright sunny, windblown shores, edging along the winding road edged with craggy beaches into storm clouds over the mountains... We rounded a corner and there was a rainbow so strong, so bright, that it looked as if someone had drawn it across the sky in neon lights.  It took my breath away, it was so beautiful.  And in that moment... I was joyful.  I was joyful to the point of tears.

The whole day had been wonderful, beautiful, and filled with awe and amazement.  And that rainbow was the thing that pushed me over the point of "happy," and into "overwhelmed with joy".