Fun Things,  Marriage Confessions,  Operation BWYP,  Travel

Gift of Happiness? Yes, Please.

November 3, 2011 /

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A couple weeks ago, my sister called me. She was pissed. At me. For no reason.

“I hate you and I hate what I’m about to tell you, but as your PR person OR WHATEVER, I’m passing this message on to you.”

Needless to say, I locked both the kids and the dogs in the playroom so I could give her my full attention.

(To protect the pure ears of my readers, I’m going to BEEP Ginny out in the following conversation. She has a mouth like a sailor sometimes…)

“You won a (BEEEEP)ing trip to Costa Rica,” she barked at me.

“I won a what?”

“A trip. To Costa Rica. You (BEEEP).”

Let me back up even further. About a month ago, Ginny sent me a link to a contest called, “The Gift of Happiness,” on Facebook. Apparently, the country of Costa Rica is giving away one million dollars in trips to their beautiful country to people who pursue happiness in their lives. Ginny thought it sounded like me, what with all the “blooming where you’re planted” crap I went through last year. To be entered, you had to “like” the Facebook page and then enter the contest.

So, I did.

Turns out, one of the girls who works at the PR firm who is hosting and promoting this contest knew my sister and so she contacted Ginny – not to tell her that GINNY had won, but to tell her that I had won and could Ginny put her in touch with me.

Sisterhood doesn’t get much more bitter than that, let me tell you.

Being the big person that she is, though, Ginny set up a meeting with Chris and me and the PR company while I was in Atlanta last weekend so that we could get more information about the trip and find out exactly what this whole “Gift of Happiness” thing was all about.

Ya’ll.

YA’LL.

It’s about the coolest, happiest, most incredible thing EVER and you are getting ready to be GREEN with jealousy.

(And, yes, that last sentence DID require TWO words with capitalization.)

(So did that last one.)

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Chris and I have, quite literally, been given a gift of complete happiness! They are sending us to COSTA RICA for EIGHT DAYS over my spring break in March. JUST CHRIS AND ME! ALL EXPENSES PAID! We are going to stay in crazy nice hotels (three of them!), tour different parts of the country, and do crazy things like horseback riding up into volcanoes and zip line through the rainforest. AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING!

We get to choose from FIVE DIFFERENT PACKAGES, all of which include amazing hotels and incredible opportunities to see and experience Costa Rica.

Dude.  Seriously.  They’re picking a ton of random people for trips like this!  Get ye to their Facebook page and enter yourselves!  Then we can sit with our mouths open and USE CAPITAL LETTERS TOGETHER!

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I mean, even saying this sounds INSANE! I can’t even believe it! Seriously! I’m actually LAUGHING OUT LOUD as I write this!

We met with the PR team and I tried my hardest not to sit there with my mouth hanging open as they told me about this, but I don’t think I was successful. I’m pretty sure I looked like a freak. But I COULDN’T HELP IT! This is one of the CRAZIEST THINGS THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME!

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Next week, I’ll post each of the trip options that we can choose from and, if I ever figure out this new polling thing on my site, I’m going to let you guys vote on which trip option we choose. HOW FUN!

I’ve been to Costa Rica before. I went in high school on a mission trip and, like many mission trips, I left feeling like the people there had made more of an impact on me than I had made on them. Their happiness and contentment with life radiated through each interaction I had with them. I’ve never forgotten that. After the past two years Chris and I have had, I’m not just excited that we have won a trip. I’m excited that we’ve won a trip to Costa Rica. If I’ve learned anything in the last two years of crazy transitions, ups and downs, and successes and failures, I’ve learned that happiness is truly about blooming where you are planted. And nowhere is that philosophy more ingrained than in the Costa Rican culture.

I don’t believe in chance or luck or even fate. I believe in faith and in a Plan bigger than I know or understand. Is it God’s will that I sit on a beach in Costa Rica? Probably not (but wouldn’t that be cool if that was how God worked?!?!). But I do believe that we get exactly what we need in life at the exact time we need it. And never have Chris and I needed happiness more than these past few years.

I’m grateful for Perfect Timing. And for happiness.

And for Costa Rica.

And for luxury hotels.

And for second honeymoons.

But mostly, for the Perfect Timing thing.

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