Blog Archives
365 Reasons to Smile – Day 35
Last week, my husband told me that one of my best qualities is that I’m like a dog with a bone. In other words, I don’t easily give up and am very persistent.
He also said one of my biggest weaknesses is that I’m like a dog with a bone. In other words, sometimes I don’t let things go when I should.
He’s right, which is why I struggle when, despite my best attempts, things don’t go the way I think they should.
This doesn’t go unnoticed.
When I left my first real job after college, my parting gift was a plaque that said, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
Those words still ring true today, and age and many, many years of “experience” have taught me something else as well.
We don’t learn life’s most important lessons when we get what we want, and we often don’t recognize the lessons we really need.
And that explains why a certain Rolling Stones song always makes me smile.
Day 35: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Day 34: Accepting the Fog Day 33: I See the Moon
Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap
Day 30: Unlikely Friendships Day 29: Good Samaritans
Day 28: Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet? Day 27: Shadows
Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads
Day 24: Hibiscus Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck
Day 22: The Wonderful World of Disney Day 21: Puppy love
Day 20 Personal Theme Songs Day 19: Summer Clouds
Day 18: Bartholomew Cubbin’s Victory
Day 17: A Royal Birth Day 16: Creative Kids
Day 15: The Scent of Honeysuckle Day 14: Clip of Kevin Kline Exploring His Masculinity
Day 13: Random Text Messages from My Daughter Day 12: Round Bales of Hay
Day 11: Water Fountains for Dogs Day 10: The Rainier Beer Motorcycle Commercial
Day 9: Four-Leaf Clovers Day 8: Great Teachers We Still Remember
Day 7: Finding the missing sock Day 6: Children’s books that teach life-long lessons
Day 5: The Perfect Photo at the Perfect Moment Day 4: Jumping in Puddles
Day 3: The Ride Downhill after the Struggle Uphill Day 2: Old Photographs
365 Reasons to Smile – Day 33
One of my first memories is of sitting with my family watching a moon landing on the screen of our only television, a black and white Sony with dials with very few channels.
I don’t know which moon landing we were watching, but I do remember thinking that the event had to be much more interesting in live color.
I put on the hand-knitted brown sweater, which I had always wished was pink, and told my parents I was going out in the front yard.
I marched my chubby legs down the front porch steps and stared up at the moon expectantly. I was sure at any moment I would see a couple of ant-sized specks jumping around on it just as I had seen the astronauts jumping on the larger moon on television.
But no matter how hard I stared, I never saw anything moving on the moon.
Eventually, I trudged back up the stairs, removed my ugly brown sweater and rejoined my family.
I never told anyone why I had gone outside, but I think my mom instinctively knew.
She also knew I much I loved singing a song about the moon with her.
“I see the moon and the moon sees me. The moon sees somebody I want to see. So God bless the moon and God bless me. And God bless the somebody I want to see.”
I had to pass that on.
From the moment she was born, I sang that song to my daughter. Since she was singing before she could talk, she was soon singing the song with me.
And to this day, that song always makes me smile.
Day 33: I See the Moon
Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap
Day 30: Unlikely Friendships Day 29: Good Samaritans
Day 28: Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet? Day 27: Shadows
Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads
Day 24: Hibiscus Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck
Day 22: The Wonderful World of Disney Day 21: Puppy love
Day 20 Personal Theme Songs Day 19: Summer Clouds
Day 18: Bartholomew Cubbin’s Victory
Day 17: A Royal Birth Day 16: Creative Kids
Day 15: The Scent of Honeysuckle Day 14: Clip of Kevin Kline Exploring His Masculinity
Day 13: Random Text Messages from My Daughter Day 12: Round Bales of Hay
Day 11: Water Fountains for Dogs Day 10: The Rainier Beer Motorcycle Commercial
Day 9: Four-Leaf Clovers Day 8: Great Teachers We Still Remember
Day 7: Finding the missing sock Day 6: Children’s books that teach life-long lessons
Day 5: The Perfect Photo at the Perfect Moment Day 4: Jumping in Puddles
Day 3: The Ride Downhill after the Struggle Uphill Day 2: Old Photographs
Just So You Know 