Tuesday, December 18, 2012

I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite! -ELF

Each day is filled with moments worth remembering, moments worth sharing. As a promise to myself, I wanted to start trying to reflect on my day every night and remember something that made me smile. The funny thing about that has been that it has made me pay more attention to the small things as they are happening throughout the day. I find myself smiling at my son constantly. He is a chatter box these days so you really never know what he is going to say next. Tonight we drove around as a family to look at Christmas lights and we happened to find a house that was just completely decked out; I mean the whole nine yards!!! They had blinking lights, flashing lights, twinkling lights... Everything. My son was so impressed and his little two year old mind was blown. He told me, "the lights are popping!" And it made me smile! It made me smile because he just saw fireworks at our town's Christmas parade and he learned that fireworks go pop pop and in his mind that was the closest thing he had seen to these Christmas lights, so naturally they must be popping too.

I smiled today while I was out doing a little Christmas shopping because I looked around and saw men sitting on benches everywhere or leaning against a rack while their women shopped until they dropped. I smiled because I saw a mom flustered because her kids weren't behaving well and she was concerned what everyone was thinking. I didn't smile because I was happy her kids weren't behaving, I smiled because I've been her. I smiled because I saw mothers trying to pick out just the right book for their child and it makes me happy to know that there are still parents who encourage their children to read. I smiled when I saw a woman trying to capture a beautiful candid shot of her children hanging out with what appeared to be their grandpa. I smiled because I happened to run into my step sister in a quite comical way. I just smiled.

I smile because I realize there is just so much worth smiling about. I smile because I am thankful. I smile because there really is no other way to live. Life is happening all around us and it happens so quickly. If you don't take the time to pause and enjoy things every once in a while, you'll realize when you look back you have no memories or stories to share because you were too busy moving on to what was next to enjoy the now. I invite you to remember to smile and remember at least one thing every day that made you smile. I think it's a wonderful way to end the day!

1 comment:

  1. It isn't just a wonderful way to end the day: it's a wonderful way to live life. Making a conscious effort each day to find and appreciate all those smile-worthy things around us is a surefire way to find inner peace and happiness. It's all about attitude. Great post.

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