Thimblefuls of Happiness

You know, sometimes it’s the smallest things that bring joy to an otherwise mundane day. I’m amazed at how thrilled I can get over things other people would hardly notice, so much so that I find myself thinking, Wow…I need a life! I frequently smile over seemingly insignificant things, so it makes me wonder if this means I have a rather simple view of life, or if it just means I’m an eternal optimist, perpetually seeking the positive no matter how trivial the positive may appear. I prefer to think that the latter reason is the most accurate. You, however, may read this post and come away thinking that I really just need more to do.

The things that bring unparalleled joy to my day, in no particular order:

• Victoria’s laugh

• Aaron’s no-other-reason-than-I-wanted-to-hug-you hugs

• Adding up the daily deposit and getting the same number twice

• Bud Light’s Real Men of Genius commercials

• Phone calls from Dom during work

• Opening a shipment of new office supplies (I love pens!)

• Mason’s tail wagging – for whatever reason he finds to wag it

• Snuggling a bunny rabbit

• Installing a new computer program

• Testing my fish tank water and finding that everything is in balance

• Birds on my bird feeder – especially cardinals

• Seeing a cardinal in my yard while I’m on the phone with Mom

• Finding my shoes after two days of looking for them

• Holding Dom’s hand immediately after the Our Father during Mass, when everyone else has let go

• Fresh iced tea in the staff lounge

• Getting a new app on my phone

• Watching Mabel when she’s tired

• Sitting on the swing in the backyard

• Getting a new issue of Southern Living in the mail

• Looking through a new recipe book

• Hearing about Dom’s day

• Being at- or under-budget at the grocery store

• Blooms on my gladiolas

• Heck, in this heat, blooms on anything in my flowerbed!

• Emails that tell me the pollen count is dropping

• Convincing myself to spend the money on a dress and then finding out at the register that it’s on sale

• The moment our receptionist notifies us that the city has turned our office water back on

• A full tank of gas

• Buying materials for a home improvement project

• Emptying my file of co-workers’ phone expense reimbursements (usually in pennies)

• Starbucks Fridays

• Knowing Margie just read an email from me because I can hear her laughing all the way down the hall

• Postal holidays (paid for dearly on the next business day, but for a brief moment, it’s all worth it!)

• Finding Italian Shoemakers sandals on sale

• Spray painting anything

• Sparkly lip gloss

• Cooking dinner when I’ve actually had time to prepare and do it right with fresh ingredients

• Folding laundry that Dom has laid out neatly so that my time investment in the chore is cut by two-thirds

See? Not a lot of wow. Just a lot to be grateful for.