Happiness is . . . finding something in the mailbox other than junk mail, routine magazines, and rejection letters. I’d been waiting for this issue of Thema with its theme of “Eyeglasses Needed.” I confess to a little jubilee dance for the appearance of my memoir article about my father’s visual challenges that appears inside. As I headed to the house to check out editor Virginia Howard’s collection for this theme, I thought about the 3 Happinesses x 3 connected to it.
First Three Happinesses: My article, “Borrowed Eyes,” appeared first in Lifeglow published by Seventh Day Adventists for the visually impaired. In a coincidence, one of their marketers came by the Marshall (Texas) Public Library to ask the director (my daughter) about placing free copies of the magazine for its patrons to pick up. He was a bit chagrined when, along with her permission, she showed him the article her mother had written. The second appearance came in The 
Lutheran Digest, which also serves those with vision problems. In this third appearance in Thema, I expect most of the readers have minor vision difficulties that are easily solved with the eyeglasses of the theme.
Second Three Happinesses: This makes my third appearance in this literary magazine. The first was “Katrina’s Aftermath,” a poem for the “When Things Get Back to Normal” issue in the Autumn 2008 twentieth anniversary year. The second came in the Summer 2011 issue with “A Change in Plans” for the “About Two Miles Down the Road” issue. This third one is for the 2013 Autumn issue of Thema’s twenty-fifth anniversary year.
Third Three Happinesses: I’ve been happy three times with the story. Days of good memories and quiet satisfaction came as I wrote and polished Daddy’s story. Validation and fulfillment have come in its publication. Ongoing pleasure will come as I read one-a-day of the other writers’ takes on the topic in this issue of Thema, saving them to relish like a daily piece of dark chocolate.
If my ‘rithmetic [about which I write “not much”] is correct, that makes me nine times happy. If your happiness comes from either of the three – writing, publishing, or reading – check out Thema at http://themaliterarysociety.com. A literary magazine that has been around for twenty-five years has to have something good going on.