Small Joys

I love to walk. I don’t do it enough. But usually when I go out, I encounter things that make me happy.

Last week I was walking around just to take pictures and I stopped by a grocery store to grab lunch. It wasn’t my usual store, and it’s not a route I normally take. While I was walking back home with my heavy bag (poor planning on my part!) I was greeted by a man on a red moped who gave me a very loud “Hello!” I have no idea who he was, but it really made me happy just to get a cheerful greeting. I yelled “Hello!” back as he passed by.

Just a couple days ago, I was leaving my apartment to go to work. There was a mom with her two small children in the parking lot next door. The little girl, who must have been around 2 just looked at me. I always do my best to greet the little ones because a)I usually get looked at when I go out so I like to try to be friendly b) I like to try to be as happy as possible because they will have to learn English and I really hope they’ll enjoy it! and 3) I just really like saying hello.

Sometimes when I say hello and wave I’ll get a wave back, and sometimes I just get baby poker face. But this time I got an adorable wave!!! MY. HEART.

I know there’s lots of not good things in the world. But when I go out and meet people, I am amazed again and again by the kindness and friendliness that I encounter. There’s sometimes not so friendly greetings, but I don’t remember those. The ones that make me happy and give me warm feelings? I try my absolute best to remember them. Because they made my day that much brighter.