Search for joy in your blog

Okay, Monica Jackson has tagged me to search for joy in my blog. Unfortunately, I don't appear to have ever used the word joy! Happiness, excitement, but no joy! What does that say about me as a person and a writer?

Do I not have joy in my life (besides the dishwashing liquid) or do I just not use the word to apply to my life? So I searched for the word 'joy' in the dictionary. Here's what I found:

Joy
Pronunciation: 'joi'
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French joie, from Latin gaudia, plural of gaudium, from gaud, Ere to rejoice; probably akin to Greek gEthein to rejoice
a : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT
b : the expression or exhibition of such emotion : GAIETY
2: a state of happiness or felicity : BLISS3 : a source or cause of delight- joy·less /-l&s/ adjective- joy·less·ly adverb- joy·less·ness noun

So, this caused me to think about what brings me joy in life. Well, a really good book that makes me excited about writing brings me joy. Watching my friend's little boy discover the world brings me joy, hanging out with my friends brings me joy, a good bowl of lobster bisque brings me joy.

Seeing people do good things brings me joy. A really great idea or a good day writing brings me joy. Playing with a puppy brings me joy. I guess I'm not used to expressing it verbally with the word joy. It seems such a simple word sometimes and I can get all writerly and what to use other synonyms. Showing off that I know how to use Thesaurus.

So, I now pass the baton to the following people:

Kelly Callihan
Gabrielle Luthy at Diary of an Adult Runaway
and last but not least, Megan Frampton

Have fun ladies spreading the joy!