He said he liked watching me sing.
Told me that I really sparkled when I sang.
“Sing me a song.”
“I don’t take requests.”
I don’t like to be forced. It’s better if he catches me, happily chirping away, forgetting there’s a world that exists beyond the melody, beyond the lyrics.
Just me and my song.
I wrote this eight years ago today according to Facebook and reading it made me smile very hard.
1. Taking pictures of friends, family, strangers, things that amuse me.
2. Puppies and doggies.
3. Eating out with a friend.
4. Reading a good book.
5. Rereading a book I love.
6. Summer thunder storms.
7. Dancing like a fool.
8. Watching tv with Andie.
9. Singing along with the radio.
10. Writing.
11. Coffee.
12. People watching.
13. The free day at museums.
14. Museums that are free in general.
15. Plays.
16. Movies.
17. Being on stage.
18. Driving.
19. Going somewhere new.
20. Meeting random people.
21. Seeing old friends.
22. Watching the sunset on the beach.
23. The lake.
24. Being by myself.
25. Being with others.
26. Taking the train to the end of the line.
27. Travel shows.
28. Popping bubble wrap.
29. Daydreaming.
30. Flirting.
31. Kareoke.
32. Riding my bike.
33. Wearing high heels.
34. Wearing pretty dresses.
35. Dressing up.
36. Bringing home gifts from my travels.
37. Texting my friends.
38. Learning something new.
39. Filling out stupid myspace surveys.
40. Getting mail.
41. Listening to people tell me about their day.
42. Solving problems.
43. Making fun of kids.
44. Working with kids.
45. Laughing at people’s reactions when I talk about kids.
46. My friends.
47. People who talk to me even when I’ve been a jerk.
48. People who really mean it when they ask, ” how are you?”
49. People who talk to me not just when they want me to do something for them.
50. Wise people.
51. Music.
52. Cute guys at Kinko’s.
53. That time of the day when you realize you’ve been awake too long and you’re slap happy.
54. Looking at old photo albums.
55. Painting my nails.
56. Chewing on pens.
57. Rain coats.
58. Going bowling.
59. Pretending like I remember how to golf.
60. Telling stories.
61. Receiving flowers.
62. Buying myself flowers.
63. Going for a walk.
64. Nacho Libre.
65. Quoting Nacho Libre with Melissa.
66. Reminiscing.
67. Striking up a conversation with a complete stranger.
68. Making up words.
69. Speaking in Spanish.
70. Blogging.
71. Reading other people’s blogs.
72. Cracking jokes.
73. Making hot chocolate.
74. Ice Cream.
75. Summer nights.
76. Sitting in the park.
77. Drawing in the park.
78. Taking Baloo to the park.
79. Googling things.
80. Snowball fights.
81. Sidewalk chalk art.
82. Paleteros.
83. Corn from the elotero.
84. Going to chinatown.
85. Drinking bubble tea.
86, Humbolt Park adventures.
87. Going to Ethel’s with Sarah.
88. Imitating people.
89. The smell of cut grass.
90. Road trips.
91. Churros.
92. Driving in foreign countries.
93. Being silly.
94. Decorating cakes.
95. Putting my students work up on the wall.
96. Making notes.
99. Sending out cards.
100. Life.
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” — Anne Frank
I feel like it shouldn’t be so hard to be happy.
Happiness should be one of those things granted to you by life– Like the ability to breathe.
However sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in looking for grandiose happy moments that it keeps me from appreciating the small simple moments that happen daily.
Things like the the train running express directly to my stop in the suburbs, sitting in the sun room with my roommates laughing about silly things or waking up to the sounds of a snoring dog.
Lately I’ve seen the hashtag “100HappyDays” floating around the vastness of the interwebz on simple picture posts about pies, flea markets and unpacking moving boxes and I was intrigued by the idea of these small tokens of happiness.
My intrigue led me to Google the hashtag and I found a website by the same name.
The concept is simple; be happy.
Find the happy in 100 consecutive days without giving up.
One of the main excuses for people not completing the task was a lack of time.
The hecticness and stress of a busy schedule cause most people to miss the things keeping their lives from being a complete mess.
Or maybe I’m projecting?
Regardless I liked the idea of finding the small and the less obvious and signed up for the challenge.
However because I’m a writer and I’ve been going through a small bout of writer’s block I’ve decided not to only photograph my happy, but to also take those moments and write about it.
So consider this a precursor to my hundred happy days and I encourage you, my dear friends, to take the challenge. Even if it’s not in taking a bunch of pictures and hashtagging the crap out of them, like many of us like to do, but just taking a moment every day to recognize the small, the insignificant, overlooked parts of our lives that make us smile every day.
Because those are the things that will shine in the moments when everything seems so dark.
So here’s to 100 happy days.
The Secret Life of Pandas 