Make My Day

There are just some things that make me so damned happy....and usually it’s the little things.

This morning I got up early to write this column but ran to the boulangerie to get some bread first. I was starving and needed fortification.  I was handed a fresh, crisp baguette, still so hot that it almost burned my fingers. As I walked home with this hot-piece-of-heaven in my hands, imagining how the Bretone butter would melt so easily over it and how my homemade fig jam would taste slathered over all that goodness, I realized that this just-moments-fresh baguette had just made my day. A silly, little, warm baguette!

It got me thinking about other whispers of time that do the same thing to me. Sometimes I’m treated to several in one day and sometimes I have to wait awhile. But they always come.

For instance…my old cowboy boots.  When I wriggle my feet into this pair of leather boots that have spent their years conforming just to my feet, it feels like a welcome home party for my piggies. And in spite of their complete lack of spit and polish, I always somehow feel strong when I wear them.

Or....The ozone smell of the air after a spring rain. The smell of worms after the same rain. Or the rain that arrives as a surprise on a hot summer day, falling amidst the curious remaining rays of sun, and parting just as it arrived, with more sunshine...and a bit of steam rising from the hot pavement as evidence that it’s been there.

My down blanket and my squishy down pillow….both of which were important enough to bring with me to France.

The sound of the waves on the beach just as I’m drifting off to sleep. Not the crashing kind of wave….. the kind that just lick the beach in a rhythmic tempo….until….unti….unt….un…u….

The smell of a dog’s paws. Okay, I suppose not any dog’s paws and it depends on where he’s been, but….if you take a little sniff of the pads of a dogs feet, they smell like buttered popcorn. Really!

The silky feel of saltwater on my skin while swimming in a calm, tropical sea.

The amazing blue color of that same tropical sea.


The smell of a campfire that lingers in my hair three days and two hair washings after I’ve returned to the real world following a camping trip.

The feel and taste of really fine chocolate after I pop it in my mouth and let it melt away rather than chew it. (I rarely do this…takes loads of self-discipline!).

The calming effect that comes after a kick-butt workout when I’m particularly stressed.


The smell and the glorious feel of freshly line-dried white sheets.

Watching my children sleep. At any age.

Dancing.

The chubby, dimpled, perfect hands of a small child as he holds his parent’s face between them.

Writing with a freshly sharpened pencil. Actually just looking at a freshly sharpened pencil makes me happy.

The comforting memory of the smell of my dad’s hair, the smell of my mother’s makeup drawer, and the lovely scent of my baby blanket. Periodically, I am treated to a whiff of something that reminds me of these things and I am content.

Basil in the garden as the hot sun releases its scent.

Warm mud squishing between my toes. If I work my toes just right, I can make the mud erupt between them like mini-geysers.

Kissing that soft indentation on the back of a baby’s neck.

Being kissed in that same spot.

Preparing food with a well-made, well-balanced, razor-sharp chef’s knife.

Finding a real letter in the mailbox.

The smell of the milk room on a dairy farm. Sometimes when I walk through a professional restaurant kitchen, the exact same scent takes me back to Grandpa's barn.

A fresh box of crayons and coloring with them in a good old-fashioned coloring book.

Okay, that does it! I'm making myself crazy. There’s more, but I have to finish this right now and go out and buy crayons and a coloring book….and maybe some chocolate... because I think today I'll treat myself to a couple of other fabulous moments that truly make my day. After all...it's birth month!

Enjoy your perfect moments today, and if you have the time, tell me what your perfect moments are.