This I Believe

I believe in the little things in life. I love simple little pleasures as unexciting as paying with exact change or as gratifying as a delicious, relaxing meal. It is these overlooked, underappreciated moments that contribute to the sweetness of life, the quirkiness of life.

Several years ago, my friend Tim died. He was thirty-six. During our eighteen year friendship, we fought, we trusted, we betrayed and we loved. Though our relationship was wrought with difficulties, Tim taught me to appreciate the moment; he lived a (seize the day) kind of lifestyle. He taught me that each moment can exist on its own·a perfect world within a world. Through him, I learned to celebrate the most seemingly benign events such as falling asleep on the couch with the sun warming my skin.

When Tim died, I thought deeply about the moments we shared and vowed to continue celebrating the little things in life. Now I keep a mental list of these sweet, simple things that form the core of who I am. I call it my Favorite Things list:

Watching my daughters sleep

The smell of turpentine

A full tank of gas

My mother’s beauty

Car Talk

Snow days

Eating beignets in New Orleans

The way my father cries when he laughs really hard

Sitting with friends at a cafe

The popcorn and the previews

Getting (good) mail

Road trips

Morning dew

Central Park in the Fall

Fortune cookies

New York City bagels

Staying in a hotel

Morning coffee

Marzipan

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Any movie with Julie Andrews

The smell of the ocean

Watching my father paint

Ben and Jerry

Bookstores

Bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded

Clean, warm laundry

A killer parking spot

Full moons

Time alone

Pizza delivery

Getting lost in a book

Perfectly broken-in jeans

And yes, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.