In physics, there’s a principle called the observer effect. The observer effect is the disturbance of an observed system by the act of observation. Simplified, the act of watching a thing changes the thing.  I’ve been watching my life for happiness and I’m seeing it. Not only around the next corner, but now, every day. It’s in the small things.  I cannot adequately express how happy fall weather makes me. Snow in the mountains, rain in the valleys, sweaters in my wardrobe rotation. And the crisp, clear air? People, this is the best season. Hands down. 2. I listened to hours of Christmas music this week and felt great about…

Finally, I’ve found a purpose for all the fortune cookie messages I’ve been saving for years. This is the first in a series of fortune cookie posts. I’ll pick a message, see how it plays out in my week, and write about it. Let’s begin. “Keep it simple. The more you say, the less people remember.” I am my family’s historian. I scan pictures, convert old Super 8 and Camcorder tapes to digital movies, and change cassette tape recordings to digital audio files. This has yielded such amazing moments for us as we’ve been drawn back into time, hearing and seeing earlier versions of ourselves. What has really been the…