Awesome

You know when go to the mailbox and open it up, expecting to find the usual pile of junk mail with an occasional bill sprinkled in, but instead you find the usual pile of junk mail and a bill or two and an envelope with your name hand-written on it, from someone real who you know and love?

That's awesome.

You know when you open the refrigerator and you're hungry but you're not really sure what you're hungry for and then BAM! there's one serving of your favorite dessert leftover from a few nights ago sitting right there on the shelf because everyone in the house forgot it was there for the last day or two?

That's awesome.

You know when you're driving in your car and you start to dig around in your purse (probably not something you gentleman do very often) to find your sunglasses (while still keeping your eyes on the road) and all the sudden you can feel the shape of a couple of Hershey's kisses that have been in there for at least a week because you thought you had eaten them all and had stopped fishing around for them days ago?

That's awesome.

Get the idea?

A wonderful family friend (who feels more like family than friend) gave me "The Book of Awesome" a few weeks ago. I had never seen nor heard of it so didn't know what to expect when I opened it up. It's now one of my favorite books. It's full of dozens of little moments like the ones above. Little things that happen to normal people all the time that should be appreciated but are more often than not overlooked.

This is a fun game to play (by yourself or with others). Instead of rehashing the tale of the guy who cut you off in traffic (because you know you'll tell this story to multiple people, and to what end?), or repeating the story of the lady in the checkout line who decided to write a check but didn't start writing it until her entire basket was bagged and ready to go, or getting frustrated with the barista at Starbucks who put whipped cream on your mocha even though you said "no whip", why not let those moments roll off of you and try instead  to come up with a few "awesome" moments--it's really pretty easy once you put your mind to it.

In today's world it's just too easy to see what's gone wrong instead of looking for what's gone right.

Here are a few more of my "awesome" moments from this week:

When it's after 5pm and you have no idea what you're making for dinner and you're pretty sure you might have to go to the supermarket and you really don't want to but when you open the freezer there's a package of frozen raviolis AND you find a jar of marinara in the pantry. Awesome!

You put on your winter coat that you haven't worn since last winter and when you put your hands in the pockets you find a ten dollar bill. Awesome!

You unload the dishwasher and lo and behold EVERY SINGLE GLASS in the house is now clean and your cupboard is FULL. Awesome! (this one, incidentally, will NEVER happen if your kids are home for any length of time as all the glasses will be in any spot BUT the dishwasher or the cupboard--but your kids are home so AWESOME!)