"You look happy."

Every few months, I get in this mood. I'm not sure how to describe this mood. It's not a bad mood, it's not a funk, and it's not negative at all.

It's just a mood where I need to get out of town, to go on a long drive alone to listen to music as loud as I want.

So I took a vacation day from work this week with the excuse that I had to go pick up a bridesmaid dress out of town.

Sure, for a lot less money the dress could have been shipped to me. But really, who wants to work on a Wednesday when you could get out of town for a day? I made my plans, got an oil change, gassed up my car and left before 6 a.m. yesterday.

It was fabulous.

I got to hang out with a handful of people who instantly recharged me and reminded me how lucky I am in life.

One of these amazing women looked at me immediately and said, "You look happy."

I couldn't stop smiling. 

Happy is something I haven't always been. I haven't really been unhappy, per se. As the same amazing woman told me, I've always been somebody who's just been okay. I was okay with where I was in life, but I've never been over-the-moon excited about life and what it has to offer me.

Until now.

Now? Everything has changed. Now I'm happy and content, and I'm excited about the future. 

And I love that other people can see that in me, too. 

Today was my 2-year anniversary at my job. In six months, I will have been at this job longer than any other job I've had. The past 2.5 years have been the most wonderful and awful roller coaster ride I've ever been on. I gave up on my career and left it behind, I moved back to my hometown and spent months job searching. And there's been a whole lot of other things in-between.

I didn't go where I intended to in life. Instead, I veered off course (way, way off course) and took a couple of side journeys I wasn't expecting.

One of my favorite sayings in life is this: "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be."

I think I need to be here right now. I need to hang out with my best friend multiple times a week. I need to help her plan her wedding. I need to be here for my brother, and I need to be surrounded by people that I've known my whole life.

I think I ended up where I needed to be. 

And, I'm happy.