It's the Little Things

I saw the best picture the other day on Facebook. It was a picture of a ton of animal floats in my friend’s swimming pool and I couldn’t help but smile. I know that sounds kind of weird, but it wasn’t a picture of the kids having fun, or the adults lounging with drinks in their hands, it was a picture of the giant swan, the giant giraffe, the shark, and the crab.

I couldn’t stop laughing. It is the little things in life that you need to see sometimes, that keep you going. I was kind of down in the dumps, from the monotony of life; it was starting to feel like Groundhog Day to me.

Get up, go to work, do the laundry, mow the yard, clean the house, do the laundry, do the laundry, do the laundry, sleep, go to work… on and on. And for whatever reason I was having the mid-summertime blues. No vacation, just boredom, and work.

But then I came home that day, and my three boys came running out the front door to me, we took the boat out. My middle one got up on skis, my oldest and youngest had a blast tubing together; and although I shouldn’t laugh, our littlest dog jumped from the boat to the dock, and missed and landed smack in the water, which made me laugh so hard.

I knew she would be fine, but her little ears and the look on her face just made me chuckle. And then that night I saw my friend’s post on Facebook with all the creatures in his pool, which made me laugh again; so, I realized then that even though life can get a bit monotonous and boring, it is pretty great.

I heard a great saying once in a movie…” Photo albums are filled with the smiles you want to remember, but it’s the day to day stuff that is what life is really all about.”

And that is so true. Everyone posts all these happy shots on Facebook, to make their lives look so wonderful, when possibly, at that moment they are; but quite possibly two seconds before that picture they could have been screaming at one another. It’s all perception. But it’s the things that go on behind the camera, behind the selfies, behind the Facebook posts that is what life is really all about.

And if seeing a pool full of creatures is what makes you smile, or giggle, or happy for that day; then so be it. I always say, it is the little things in life that create the biggest memories, because sometimes the biggest things in life can create the smallest memories, or those we want to forget about the most.

Always try your best to find that one thing in your day, that one Little Thing in your day or your week, that makes you smile. Find your pool full of blow up animals; find your hug; find your puppy dog kiss; or find your six-year-old waking you up at 6 AM with a kiss on your nose asking for a bowl of Cheerios. Because one day that bowl of Cheerios won’t be around, or you’ll be too old to appreciate that pool full of creatures, or that puppy dog won’t be there to great you any longer.

It's always going to be the little things… always has been, always will be.