What is happiness to you?
Well, for me it was today when I dropped all the mail
from the mailbox into the gutter.
Then (here is the happiness part), KNEELING down to pick it up.
I mean, after the accident, I couldn't for the life of me
bend my knees to even walk, (enter C3PO).
Honestly, I walked around with straight legs for a long time
because bending them was too painful.
My skin was newly burned, newly grafted, and bending felt like I
was being stabbed right at the knees with really sharp knives.
Sorry, but true.
I cried a lot back then.
But today as Mr. Nielson and I returned home from a very
lovely meeting in Salt Lake,
I checked the mailbox and grabbed the mail with my
clumsy hands and fingers
and dropped it all into the gutter.
I scooped down to pick the Christmas catalogs and bills and shocked myself
at just how far I was bending. So I yelled:
"Hon, look at me. I mean, look at how far I am bending down!"
It was a very big moment for me.
I look at all these small victories as a pathway being paved for me to help me
achieve the desires of my heart.
My heart wants a baby...or two or three and now I know
that I can bend down to pick up a baby when he/she cries!!!
I worked hard to get here
through therapy, exercising, falling down mountains,
picking up toys, bathing kids, and riding my bike.
And folks, that is what happiness is to me.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0J9NCDkn9z9JwVDW9FX0SHB5hoj0zl1ZXX7b4-uEaUZFG0E654GjXFJH_NR_C2G27hCM-jaGY_NSRVN1o5HPJoqzq2Tp9Ll-gS7XddfNBUXlXwSFK1K3NSvB7Vq1WUbJWP1-/s720/20101018_3791.jpg)
took at our
First Annual Madsen Bike Rally last month!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUNWFh_YqLZXkQqm6SRh5MQxaOWbnc3tWRgZRnOP6HHeMvfIdbf4UP-LSJnVEAYfcSK6elL5FvHQjiZ21p2TokEhmdJMZf0uM3pxjsecx_9I_70jatmkGifYb9kdZxagZ4G3I/s720/20101018_3739.jpg)