Issue 2 of Happy Magazine is almost here!

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s Holly here from Happy Magazine.

Well, it’s been quite a week at Happy Mag HQ, let me tell you. We were catching up on some long overdue email correspondence for the first part of the week, once Issue 2 of the print magazine had finally been put to bed and sent to the printers. Then, on Wednesday, we were getting ready to take a long drive up to the lovely team at Crocus Cancer Support in Monaghan, to speak to a group there and take part in a creative art session with author, speaker and cancer survivor, Cathy McCarthy. First though, I was collecting my brother and his amazing fiancé Aislinn from Dublin Airport – they were returning from a week’s holidays in between chemo sessions (yes, she is going through cancer, too) – when my car broke down. At the airport.

That was just the beginning.

Thankfully though, my lovely husband is a mechanic, and unashamedly I’m going to say, a very good one. I rang him outside Dublin Airport Departures – “The car has overheated and the coolant light is flashing red at me. What do I do?” He let me know I needed to stay put and I followed some directions from him over the phone for the next thirty minutes or so. Ultimately I was able to nurse the car home but the next day it was immediately into the workshop (his) for repairs.

But Crocus. How was I going to make it if I had no car? We put together a fantastic plan with help from my husband’s amazing mom Bernie – she came over to the house, stayed the night so that she could mind our son Andrew and I started driving her car to Monaghan bright and early Thursday morning.

Except, guess what? Half way up the M1, I noticed the car temperature had gone a little cold. I was fiddling with the dials, trying to turn the heat up, when I glanced at the dashboard and noticed that the temperature gauge was in the red.

Oh no. 

I pulled in on the hard shoulder, just before Exit 6, and then pulled in again, into the grass. Suddenly I knew, I wasn’t going to Crocus. It just wasn’t meant for me on this day. Life has a funny way of showing us what’s right for us, at the right time. Even if we don’t know it yet.

An hour later and my Husband and his accomplice mechanic, Danny, rescued me on the side of the M1. They were in work mode, checking the car over, plugging in their diagnostic computers and monitoring engine temperatures. Quickly they deemed the car well enough to nurse home (another one) and there it was – two cars, in my Husband’s workshop in less than 24 hours. Who does this? Me, apparently.

Today, Friday 24 May, was another big day here in our house. Today, my darling baby boy Andrew turned 3, and my Husband (same poor man who now has an additional two cars to fix next week) turned 39. Yes, they share the same birthday. Three years ago, on my husband’s 36th birthday, we welcomed the pride and joy of our lives, Andrew, into the world.

To add to this momentous day in the Kennedy house, Issue 2 of Happy Magazine landed, hot off the press from our printing company. This time, we had arranged the delivery of the magazine to my husband’s workshop. So now, he has two cars plus two pallets of Happy Magazines, courtesy of me, occupying space in his workshop! Ha – Happy Magazine really is a family effort, let me tell you. Especially this month! But it really made sense this time to deliver to his garage – last time, on Issue 1, we had 100 boxes stacked up and down our hallway and it was a logistical “tetris” mania!

So. Happy Magazine Issue 2 is here. And boy, oh boy, am I proud. Are we proud. Husband, Andrew and I. All of my amazing contributors, advertisers, special friends and more, are proud of this issue. We are very proud to say it is a great issue. We can’t wait to reveal it all to you. And reveal it we will, next week, when we finally get it all re-boxed, labelled and distributed out to our subscribed distributor network. It’s on the way folks, and we can’t wait for you to see it. Please stay tuned.