It's the Little Things

I used to find the joy in the little things in each day but over the past few months’ life has become big and hard and thought consuming. I spend my free time filling my mind with anything that will take my thoughts away from whatever is plaguing it and in the process I've forgot to notice the little joys that make the days better. So, I'm going to put down the phone and open my eyes and live each moment to the fullest. This is my experiment to share the joys of my day.

Here are my joyful accounts of the last week:

On Sunday I attended, in London, my first ever NFL football game! My opinion on NFL hasn't changed one bit, it might have actually lessened it, but what was so fun about watching the game in London was that everyone wore whatever football t-shirt they had. You would have never been able to easily tell it was a Lions or Falcons game. After the game we were walking back to the tube when we saw an older couple walking towards us wearing none other than a University of South Carolina Gamecock sweatshirt. Being the proud South Carolina grad that I am, we waved them down. As luck would have it he's just married his high school sweetheart, a nice British lady from Isle of White, and moved to England! He even had connections with my best friend's (let's call him Bestie) hometown in Georgia. Homesickness must have sunk in for the new English resident because it felt like he clung to us. They've invited us to visit and they even joined our group for a quick drink to continue the conversation. Only time will tell whether this new connection continues past our brief encounter or is just a sweet memory of that night.

One night this week I'd had a bugger of a day and decided to clear my head with a run around Clapham Common. It felt great running in the cold air through the dark shadows of the park and as I ran the frustrations of the last couple of weeks just started to flow out. There was no one around so I ran and cried and was starting to feel a little better when I started to approach a woman. "Excuse me, excuse me" she said in a strong foreign accent. I stopped, "yes?" She blurted in broken English "Put her hood on head, please?" and turned around to reveal this sweet little curly hair baby girl, probably only 3 or 4 months old. I fixed her little hood and walked back to the office and smiling. Why she decided to ask puffy faced me I will never know, but what a sweet reminder that we aren't alone.

It really is the little things that make this life worth living.

Double rainbow outside the office a couple weeks ago