1. Communicating non-verbally with babies in public (think church, the airport, grocery stores)
2. The alluring smell of Thanksgiving turkey coming out of my oven.
3. Listening to Stevie Wonder songs. Literally any of them.
4. Looking at funny pics of my spawn in their younger days.
5. Watching news stories about faith communities helping each other out in times of trouble (think recent stories about Jews helping Muslims and vice versa after experiencing vandalism in cemeteries and fires in mosques). These stories increase my faith in humanity and in God.
6. Watching quirky, uplifting movies (ex: Moonrise Kingdom, St. Vincent, Love Actually)
7. Petting dogs.
8. Positive adoption stories (both the two legged and four legged kind)
9. Shopping at thrift stores (often it’s a win-win as many, such as Goodwill or Arc employ people with developmental disabilities and I save tons of money and reduce my impact on the environment).
10. Gazing at the beautiful Colorado skies.
11.  Sipping a lovely glass of red wine at the end of a long day.
12. Finding a great self help book and actually getting something out of it!
13. Older women in public that are dressed to the nines. Reminds me of my Grandma on my dad’s side (my cousins nicknamed her “Pearl Pearl the Party Girl” but “Glamma” would have been an appropriate moniker too).
14. Exploring new cities with my exceedingly amazing other half.
15. Sitting  with the other half in a boat on a lake in Wisconsin or Minnesota on a warm sunny day. Or on a beach in Florida on a warm sunny day.
16. Volunteering (food banks, Habitat for Humanity, serving meals to the homeless)
17. Redheads (not sure what that’s about to be honest)
18. When I make someone laugh!
19. When I see strangers doing kind things for other strangers in public (holding the door for an elderly person, people that  happily allow someone that has way fewer things in their grocery cart cut ahead of them,  those awesome millennial gals who were providing free hugs to those of us on our way to a rally supporting Muslims a few Saturdays ago).
20. The smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning.
21. Spending quality time with the other half of me, our  spawn, our beautiful grandson, extended family near and far, and all those friends we’ve collected along the way.

My sincere hope for anyone reading this is that you are able to, despite all your personal day to day stressors and the fear inspired noise going on in the world today, remain in touch with those things that make your heart smile too. Your heart and soul will be so much better for it. Trust me.