Simple things make me happy. I didn't have to go without, well, anything growing up. So, really, I could have learned to place loads of importance on material things and let the simple things go by without a second glance. But I've always taken the time to think about the most simple things. Even when I was very little, I made sure to include the grasshoppers and ladybugs and clouds and and and in my prayers. Someone had to make sure God remembered to bless 'em!
I think I might have learned to appreciate the small things in life from my grandpa. He came from a modest home and worked hard to create an outstanding life for himself and the rest of us. Despite all that he can afford and all that he's done, it's always the small things that make him smile the biggest. Eating dessert. Sneaking a late night snack. Seeing the waves created by a fish in a pond. Feeling the breeze on a warm fall day. Seeing the buds of leaves in the spring, seeing how full they look in the summer, and watching them change into beautiful colors in the fall. He's watched that for 91 years and it's so gorgeous to him each year, you'd think he's seeing it for the first time.
These things bring me joy, too. When I'm out in nature, I find it all so breathtaking, I like to think that God painted that picture just for me. Sunsets out in the country or over water are my favorite. I would also say sunrises are my favorite, but I've decided they'd be my favorite if I've stayed up all night to watch them. My aunt and I used to try to wake up early to see the sunrise, but by the time we got to it, it would have risen, so we would watch it rise higher, then go grab breakfast. It was still fun being out in the stillness of the morning, feeling the chilly, morning dew on our feet and seeing the riverfront... but I'm still curious about how the river would have looked with the sun rising over it.
Of course, I like sneaking a late night snack, but it's more fun when I'm visiting Grampa and we bump into each other in the kitchen. He offers me a cream puff, or two...or three. They're always frozen, and he's always too eager to let his thaw before he pops it in his mouth.
I like that feeling you get when you hear a song on the radio that reminds you of something important. "Breathe" by Faith Hill will first make me feel sentimental. It was played at our senior prom, and I remember dancing with Kevin to it. I remember feeling the texture of his tuxedo on my cheek. I remember being all gross and sweaty from dancing all night. I can smell my perfume and his tux. I remember wondering if maybe, just maybe, he was starting to like me. After I go through this sentimental part when the song comes on, I always laugh because I also remember that while I was trying to feel all romantic during this song, Rena and Alissa were fooling around about five feet away, making fun of the song and shouting, "Jiiiiiist Brrrrreeeeeeth" it in their most redneck voices, because we all hated this song.
I like hugs. There's the Mom Hug, which solves every problem, even if I am 25 and even if I don't have a problem. There's the Aunt Mary Hug, which is just about the most comfortable hug I've ever encountered (which everyone who has been in a musical at my high school has experienced. She's very huggy.). There's the Husband Hug, which makes all of the bad in the world disappear. And, probably my most favorite, since we've opened the Grampa Box, the Grampa Hug. He wears the softest sweaters and I'm the perfect height for his hugs. When we hug, my cheek snuggles right onto his shoulder, right onto his snuggly sweater, which he wears even if it's 80 degrees, because he's always cold. He's like a living blankie.
I could really go on and on about the simple things in life that make me happy, but really... life is full of simple things, so this blog would never end. It's just good to stop and smell the roses to take in the good ol' simple things that life offers. Even if you're having a bad day/week/month, you can always stop and come up with something simple that can make you smile.
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