Simple Pleasures!

A list I started while looking after my toddler granddaughter a while back.

I started composing this little list while doing the intense job of looking after a three-year old for a week in a big city across the continent from where I live.

So, some of these were particular to that situation, while the later ones I've added since my return to city life here in Toronto.

I suppose I ought to add that these days, what with the world going utterly mad all around us, it seems wise to notice & celebrate simple, small pleasures. The so-called "big" things? Well. Good luck with those ones!!

• Getting simple, minor errands done (e.g. a load of laundry, grocery purchases; not nearly as straightforward as when I'm back home!)

• My granddaughter's time at nursery school (I sure got a lot done in those two sessions of 2 1/2 hours on my own!! Just like I used to when my kids were either at nursery school, or napping. Including taking time to make some notes for postings like this one.)

• Frequently spotting people smiling at my granddaughter & me while we were out & about with her in the stroller

• Finding the spiral notebooks I write my drafts in (yes; very old-fashioned, I am – handwriting most items first). Couldn't for the life of me find them at home, but was thrilled to find them in a small grocery store (one with very narrow aisles –if the store had had wider aisles, I might not have spotted them!) that she & I were navigating carefully with the stroller (for the record, I've discovered a store back home where I now CAN get these notebooks. 🙂)

• Figuring out a good strategy for getting the simplest stuff done, given all the variables I was juggling, as one does with a toddler (in an apartment) & naps & meal-times & all that

• Morning coffee outside – anytime! At home, away, wherever & whenever

• Watching my granddaughter delight in the simplest things: flowers, birds, firetrucks (especially waves from firefighters! Or a brief chat with a few firefighters while out & about one time), spotting "the 22 bus" every time we walked up or down that particular major street

• Toddler naptime!!

• Reading stories to a young child who loves books/stories – ahhhhh. It's the best! They snuggle up & lean into you, maybe with thumb in mouth, & .... well. It's just the best! 🙂

• Laughing with my GD as we played with language – e.g. her saying "What are you DOING??" Then me saying it, placing the inflection on the different words in the sentence, & repeating it over & over again (we are both easily amused! 🙂 🙂) ... or just making funny faces at one another

• Toddlers! Their smiles, cute phrases, sweet voices; their curiosity, innocence (well; these are big things really, aren't they??)

• Major swaths of time OFF the Internet/Facebook/email while I was away. Ahhhhh.

• Finding some great cards in the airport as I killed time waiting for my flight home (I have a serious card addiction. So shoot me!)

• Getting hand-me-down clothes from daughters, friends, friends' daughters! (they all give me great stuff!)

Now I'm back home – adding in small pleasures I've experienced more recently:

• Sunshine! (My but it's rare here in Toronto these days. Geez. No need to go into why that is, hmmm? It just is. What. It. Is.)

• Sitting outside in the sun in the morning. Ahhhh.

• Friendly exchanges with "strangers" while I'm out & about, on foot, doing errands

• Noticing birdsong – cardinal song is such a treat! (also heard & saw a raven one day a while ago. What a squawking!!)

• A recent Value Village trip with my Toronto daughter – found some good books! On another occasion, a great lumberjack-type red & black shirt, for practically nothing. That jaunt followed by...

• A TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) trip home that involved 1 subway, 2 buses & a streetcar – & no waiting time!! Unreal. I told a woman at the streetcar stop that I felt like I needed to go home & crack open a bottle of champagne – this kind of smooth transit trip is not at ALL common!! Not likely to be repeated anytime soon. If ever!

• Reading a good book

• Listening to some good music

• Accomplishing a small task, even – especially one that has been nagging at me for some time (like finally getting my income tax done 🙂)

• Knowing down to my bones that just "showing up" is more important to people than grand gestures or expensive gifts. Showing up (for friends, family, in volunteer roles) is what really counts. There's simply no substitute for it!

• A good conversation? With a friend, neighbour, family member – even some stranger one encounters? I can't think of anything better!

I've said it before & will very likely say it again: life's small pleasures are really the big ones!

Janet

A few quotations, just for fun:

“Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Wealth is something you acquire so you can share it, not keep it.” – LaDonna Harris

“It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, but it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” – Agnes Repplier

“We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.” – Henrik Ibsen

“The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.” – F.H. Bradley

“If this isn't nice, I don't know what is!" (a phrase from his uncle that the brilliant writer Kurt Vonnegut encouraged people to make a point of saying as often as possible)

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa

p.s. if you take up the habit of practicing gratitude on a regular basis, & start counting your blessings, basically, instead of always focusing on losses & lacks, it's pretty amazing how your attitude begins to shift! There are quite a few great quotations about gratitude gathered up here.