Pondering Stale Coffee and the Happy Banner

In my kitchen hangs a banner that says *HAPPY* and I like it. If I get up early enough, I get dressed and I like to be down in the kitchen by 7AM to catch the headlines from the Today show. Only on weekdays, though. I'm so done with having to wake up early on a weekend. It was a real lifestyle, being in the media. We worked on weekdays, weekends, holidays. All times of the day and night. Getting the early morning drivetime slot was considered the pinnacle of success. Only the best get to sign on. Sign on. That was a thing! Radio and TV stations didn't always have 24 hour programming. Streaming was not a thing. On demand everything, certainly not either. If you turn on the TV or the radio, there may be stations that began broadcasting at 5 or 6AM and then they cease operating for the day at midnight. Even when radio became a 24 hour operation, I remember we still referred to the 6AM slot as sign on and I did eventually work that slot for years, in various capacities. I had to wake up at 4AM to get ready, needing to be at the office at least 30 minutes before I was on. When I did news, I tried to get there much earlier so I could have the office quiet and I could write half the copy by 6 and my partner and I could get breakfast in. 

So it's just before 7 and I'm prepping the coffee maker. I see coffee leftover from yesterday and I consider, what would happen if I just reheated this? Is stale coffee really a thing? I toss the coffee and prepare a fresh batch. I look up and on the wall, it says... HAPPY. Happy what? Fill in the blanks and complete the sentence. You can put words before happy. Let's play Jeopardy. What is happy. Be happy. I mean, it's literally in the shape of a smile. Today, maybe simply happy. 

I had a party for my younger daughter when she was turning 5. I found this create your own banner kit at Party City and bought it, thinking I could get years and years of use out of it. She's 12 now and honestly, the banner kit doesn't just get used during birthdays. When we moved into our current home, I started using it for seasonal announcements. Happy Summer! Happy Halloween! Then when there was no occasion coming up, I would think up positive and inspirational messages. I was limited to the letters in the kit, which meant that sometimes I could come up with a message but would have to find another way to say it that didn't require another P or used less words. But often, it's Happy whatever. It said happy birthday for a couple of weeks and at the end of birthday week, I took down Birthday to recycle the letters for the Welcome Back sign I wanted to put up for my daughter who was coming home from college for a few days. But I left Happy up. It's a challenge. Look at this sign and say the word... like you mean it. HAPPY.

Playlist Recommendation: Happy (From Despicable Me 2), Pharrell Williams