A little love, a few flowers, a hug, a simple thank you or act of kindness can certainly go a long way. Here are the little things I’m enjoying lately.
1. Fresh flowers. I’m a sucker for fresh flowers. I recently spoiled myself and grabbed a bouquet for 3.99 when we ran to Trader Joe’s for some frozen goods. I split the bouquet for 3 vases and snipped some greenery off of our front bushes to help fill out the thinned bouquet. I’m not sure what it is about them, but they put a smile on my face every time I see them.
2. Free flowers: And just when you thought there was nothing that could beat fresh flowers? Free fresh flowers. The lot behind our house is a crummy garage that gets frequently overgrown. However, the other day I noticed these awesome flowers springing up. I went out there armed with my scissors and went to town. The icing on the cake? When I put them on the dresser I was so aghast with the state of the dresser top that I felt the dresser was unworthy of receiving the flowers. You better believe I cleaned that shit up. Now, not only do I have fresh flowers in the bedroom, but the bedroom is now clean! The gift that keeps on giving.
3. My little engineer. This girl and her alarming new ways to scale the furniture. Emmie’s always been a fan of being on the couch, but luckily was too short to climb up herself. Well, she’s still too short, but her smarts make up for the height she lacks. She’ll push, carry, tug anything over to the couch and test it out to see if it can be used to scale on up. This usually happens in less than a minute. While part of me is terrified, it’s pushed aside as the proud Momma barges through. My Claire-bear thinking through problems and finding creative solutions, and not giving up when one doesn’t work? Yup, I’ve got Proud Momma Syndrome.
4. The “Mama” stage. Boo boos? Mommy’s hugs are best. Hungry? Mama’s snack is delicious. Woke up cranky? Momma snuggles fix that. Need a midnight snuggle? Only Mom will do. Mother dearest is cooking and can’t pick you up? Mom leaves you with Dad to go upstairs to get dressed? End of the world. Yes, we are certainly in a Mama stage. I’ll take my extra snuggles while I can.
5. Konmari-ing my clothes. I just finished this book, and finished tidying up my clothes in the method she describes. Afterwards, I finalized my capsule wardrobe. Just looking at my closet brings me inner peace. I’m finally excited to get dressed in the mornings.
6. Random kindness. Emerson and I were enjoying a Starbucks treat, people watching, when an expectant mother was experience some cart malfunctions. She had her toddler in the seat, with some cases of water underneath, and a couple of big plastic bins in the back. Well, one little bump and everything went wrong all at once. Water fell off, bins and other items fell overboard and toddler started crying. Two different gentlemen ran over and immediately started picking things up. One carried the bins and one pushed the cart, all the way to her car and helped her load it up while she consoled the crying boy. Moments like this restore my faith in humanity. They didn’t know each other, but those men didn’t even think twice about sacrificing their time to help someone in need out. While it’s easy to get caught up in all that is wrong in the world, moments like this one remind me that there is still so much love, so much kindness, to give and receive.