Not long ago at YouTube a user there, surburbanmom whom I absolutely adore, had commented that she wished more users would make the question type videos because she really enjoyed them. She is the great creator of the Are You Normal? Series. Not that I think I’m gonna jump in the waters and create on of those question videos mind you but I digress. I remembered I had these two books I had purchased way back in the dark ages of my college days. They were books of fun and/or thought provoking questions. Some of them, from one book in particular, were so profound I had actually typed them out, printed them off, and hung them where I could see them frequently. The whole question question made me nostalgic and so I went to get them from the secretary. Next to it was another book I had forgotten about as well, 14,000 Things to Be Happy About. It’s just a list of little everyday things we tend to take for granted.

So anyway I was distracted by this Happy book. And I was sorta just flipping through the pages reading different things. And now, because I can’t find a witty transition, I’m gonna tell you a story. First of all no one person is ever happy, or even content, 100% of the time. It’s not possible. And if you try to say you are you are lying. Right through the pearly whites. And I also think that memories are more important than things. Good memories bring smiles and happiness. Things are easily outgrown or forgotten. Hence the reason many times on birthday threads I’ll say something along the lines of “I hope you day is filled with things that make you smile” A smile means a memory. Back in my nanny days just out of college I had charge of a few different families of kidlets. With so many youngun’s running through my life it was entirely too expensive on my tight budget to get gifts for every holiday and birthday etc. Especially with kids who desire toys, or with the boys it was video games. So for birthdays we “did” stuff. I left them pick. The oldest boy was a teen at that time. And he typically wanted to take his best friend to dinner at our favorite restaurant and then to a movie. I’ll never forget watching Titanic with two teenage boys let me tell ya. The younger ones, of course, typically chose a party. One of my boys (the one were I actually lived as the nanny) wanted a N64 Mario Party Party with his 3 best friends. So we set it all up. Went to rent the game and lo and behold none of the rental shops in town had it in. All rented out. But not wanting to disappoint I went and bought the drat game at Wal-Mart. And the party was a roaring success and the kids all had the game to pass around between them from then on out. I have many memories of the things we did together myself. And most of them, even these years later make me smile.

So back to the book. Some of the things listed are so basic, so forgettable, unless you take the time to appreciate the little things. Like the way your head turns to eat a taco, a small flock of birds flying in a perfect V formation, singing to the radio when you drive, old fashioned washboards, and snowcapped volcanoes.

My list would have to start with clean, warm fresh from the dryer bed sheets. A full moon on a clear crisp winter’s night. The scent of baby shampoo. Vanilla Dr Pepper extra vanilla light ice from Sonic. The perfect curl of a new perm that you only have on the first day of said perm. Cheddar Triscuits, made with real cheese, not having any calcium while Easy Cheese, using the same real cheese ingredients, having loads. Chewable chocolate-flavored calcium supplements. The ripples a passing boat makes on the surface of the lake. I could go on and on. I think when I first got this book I started to keep a list. But upteen years later and a few computers later lord only knows what happened to the beginning list.

So tell me…what makes you smile?