Do you know anyone who absolutely pretty much cares nothing about “things”?  Like birthday presents, Christmas presents, whatever, they don’t really care what they get, or don’t get, they are just happy, content, and really hard to surprise! Lovely is just that. He rarely gets excited about things. Experiences, however, those at the ish nish for him. I recently surprised him, I mean REALLY surprised him with his gift for our anniversary/his birthday next month, and it made it SO much better for me that I found something to spark that joy I always wish to see in him. Now I don’t mean to say he isn’t joyful, or happy, or all those good feels, because he is, what I mean applies specifically to stuff. That reaction is hard to come by from him. I’ve seen it before, and one that stands out to me is in Maui. Our trip was during Christmas time, so his gift was a gift card to play golf on the island. Talk about JOY!! 😀 He chose to stick close to our resort, right on the resort actually, and I was able to watch him when he came to the hole by our balcony.

Seeing the smile on his face when he played, waving to me when he got to that hole, that was the joy! The joy not brought by meaningless crap, but by memories that will last a life time. To me, that is what traveling, exploring is all about, experiences & making memories. Near our resort were two courses, Kapalua Bay Course (the only course on Maui to play over the ocean) & Kapalua Plantation Course (home to the Hyundai Tournament of Champions–a world renowned course). He chose the Bay Course. He booked a tee time on one of our first days on the island, and was paired with a caddy and another player (since he was a single player he was paired with another single player for some friendly competition). Lovely enjoyed chatting with the caddy, getting us several recommendations for dinner spots, the course views, and playing golf in paradise! I, of course, enjoyed the joy on his face made possible by me. 🙂 Great feeling, joy!