“Happy talk, keep talking happy talk”*

Someone used the term “unbridled enthusiasm” during an interview about children’s music on NPR this morning. The image came to mind of the expression on a toddler’s face when she’s splashing in the pool, licking an ice cream cone or playing with a puppy.  But once we leave the age of innocence, does unbridled enthusiasm leave with it?

I’d like to think not. While I may not jump up and down as I may have done when I was three, my joy is pretty unbridled whenever I’m about to land in Paris, close an account I really wanted, or when one of my children is ultra happy.  I guess I also could say I have unbridled enthusiasm when I read a marvelous book, hear an orchestra play Beethoven’s Ninth live and look at jewelry, even if I’m not buying.

My enthusiasm was definitely unbridled the moments my children were born, when I was accepted into the national honor society in high school and when I won hundreds of dollars at Belmont Raceway.  Turning a Barbra Streisand song up real loud when I was alone, and singing along, also prompted some UE, as did being in love for the first time.

I am looking forward to more moments of UE but I’m going to keep them secret for now since I don’t want to count my proverbial chickens before they’re hatched.

* song from 1949 musical South Pacific