Many of you know Julia and know that we refer to her as "a party in a box." Julia can find the fun in watching a slug move at 1 mph on the sidewalk. She definitely enjoys life and is thrilled at the smallest things. One thing she has started doing about once a week is announcing that "today was the bestest day of my life!"
Last week she had the bestest day ever because she got not one, but two bags of fruit snacks at preschool. The week before that it was because she got to play with her friend Halle from Tipton. One week it was because we bought her ice cream after church.
This philosophy of Julia's has had me thinking a lot lately. At first I just thought it was cute and thought about the innocence of children with no worries in their lives. After a while I started to get jealous that she could have so many bestest days ever. I mean, how many of us when asked what the best day of our life was have to go back years and only look for the most monumental things.
We often respond with "the day my children were born" (this answer is a must if it is your children who ask the question), "the day I got married" (said if your spouse is standing nearby when the question is asked), "the day I went to Disney World" (said because Disney is supposed to be the happiest place on earth), or "the day I stood on top of a mountain and just marveled at the beauty of it all" (said to impress people and to let them know you stood on top of a mountain).
What would life be like for all of us if we had the bestest day ever at least once a week? What if we tried to find so much joy in just having our favorite snack, talking to a friend or just sitting with a glass of wine and enjoying five minutes of quiet? I have realized that it is just a matter of attitude, it's just a matter of looking back on your day and finding one thing that made you smile.
Next time someone asks you what the best day of your life was don't stand there rolling your eyes into the back of your head for ten minutes and doing a mini regression therapy session, flashing back through your life. The older you get the longer this takes. Just look back in the past week of your life and surprise them with something like "yesterday because my sister called and we had a wonderful talk", or "last Thursday because the sun was shining and I ate my first dripping ice cream cone of the season".
If we all actively look for the bestest day of our lives every day wouldn't we enjoy life and all the little things just a little bit more?
1 comment:
Well said Steph...
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