Who would think that this...
could make me so happy. Or that this...
could be so flipping irritating?
Today I learned a big lesson. It doesn't take much to excite me. I always hear about all of these things that are the key to happiness. How a long, strenuous workout at the gym five times a week will change my life. Or how eight hours of sleep a night will make me a new person. Or maybe giving up sugar. I'm absolutely positive that those things are true, I really am, even though they are yet to be discovered by me.
However, I so often forget just how little it requires to put a spring in my step. Today I bought a new soap dispenser and filled it with some liquid soap from Williams Sonoma. The soap smells like winter air, a crisp fire, and coziness in a container. That's it. Soap. Soap lifted my spirits.
But that is not the only thing today that lightened my mood. Stevie Wonder was in the house today. Now, I like Stevie Wonder alright, but would not really call myself a Stevie Wonder fan. I just so happened to have the song "Superstitious" on my iPhone because I downloaded all songs spooky for a Halloween party earlier this year. While making the kids shells and cheese today, I hit 'shuffle' and Stevie came on. That is one of my New Year's mini-resolutions. I don't make big ones anymore. Just lots of mini, easy ones. Playing more music in the house is one of them.
Anyhow, today was only day I can recall that I have ever danced between microwave dings. And I'm not talking a little shuffle here and there. Mama was gettin' down.
Why in the world I haven't been playing music everyday when I make lunch is beyond me. I hate making lunch. I want to get right to the eating part. When I'm making my own lunch, I don't get up and make it because I think I will be hungry in ten minutes. I usually start the process when I'm already starving, therefore, it's not a bit fun. Enter Stevie Wonder. Something so simple.
Granted, lunch wasn't quite as productive for the boys. My little one had to jump up from his seat and dance around like a lunatic when "The Freaks Come Out at Night" came on. (Before you judge me, remembeeeeeer... the Halloween party).
So, before you decide I'm the most pitiful person in the universe, please know that music and smelly soap did not change my life. Not. At. All. But yet, if two tiny little seemingly insignificant things can make your day just a little bit better. What could about twenty tiny little things do?
I'm so guilty of thinking that the worthwhile things are always the big things. And that's simply not true. Little things can change your day. And everyones things can be very different. I have friends who get manicures. Lots of people's 'thing', but not mine. Not only do I not have fingernails, but my OCD self would have to watch every tool dipped in alcohol right in front of me. Not relaxing.
A few days ago I bought some lipstick that the actress Ginnifer Goodwin wears. I think she has such a simplistic beauty about her. For just a moment, my little middle school self, pretended I looked like her. (When you are doing this it is important to not walk by any mirrors or reflective surfaces). I already made that mistake once before when I bought a Tyra Banks modeled Miracle Bra. Still waiting on that miracle...
I guess what I'm saying is that I received a lesson in simplicity today. Find your little things and do them. If it's eating with fancy utensils, eat on Sista! If it's playing music at dinner, go for it. If, after helping with a school craft, you peel Elmer's glue off your hand like you did in second grade while you watch TV, ummm...peel away. (I will not confirm nor deny.) But, nothing is too weird or small.
Tomorrow I might even put on my Ginnifer Goodwin lipstick, while I make macaroni. Maybe Stevie will even be singing..."Isn't She Lovely?"
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