A comment made by a co-worker over 20 years ago crawled under my skin and took up permanent residence: "I had to learn how to enjoy my own company."
My friend had always assumed he'd leave college with plans to marry shortly thereafter, but it hadn't worked out that way; he spent a lot of years living alone before finding The One.
It was an odd comment to me, and as I processed the thought, I realized I had never lived alone–first, with my family, then at college in a dorm full of girls, and after that, graduating to an apartment with two roommates.
In seasons of temporary isolation, though, it was helpful to consider that "enjoying my own company" was a learned process; and part of that process was discovering what I liked about myself…the unique quirks and idiosyncrasies that make me, well…"me".
One of my inclinations I like best about myself is my wholehearted delight in The Simple and The Ordinary. Little things that others might overlook, or if they do notice, think silly or annoying, can alter the course of my day for the better.
Like…
getting caught in the rain without an umbrella…
my tween son telling me I blessed him just because I snuggled with him at bedtime…
being the first entry when someone googles "best apple pie in the world"…
finding a bazillion sand dollars at my favorite beach and videoing a wild 10' alligator within spittin' distance…
Like snail-mailed kisses…
walking through our neighborhood during the Christmas season to see all the kitschy yard decor, and having a grin forced out of me when we discover Rudolph with a Bozo clown nose…
LIKE THE RED CARDINAL I JUST NOTICED OUTSIDE MY WINDOW THAT FLEW AWAY THE MOMENT I TURNED ON MY CAMERA!!!
You get the picture (just not one of the bird).
Anyways…
This week I had one of those relished moments that wouldn't mean a thing to some people, but it absolutely blessed my heart! And it involved doing laundry, and if you can be blessed doing laundry, well that's Complicated and Extraordinary, not merely Simple and Ordinary.
I always check pockets before washing because a) there's always the danger of destroying my kids' lunch cards, hand-stamped pieces of paper, and b) years ago, I didn't check pockets, and a lipstick-painted load of lights later, I learned an expensive lesson.
On Monday, I reached into my daughter's jacket pocket and felt a small piece of paper which my brain processed as "Ah ha! A lunch card!", before pulling it out to confirm. How much fun to discover I was mistaken; it wasn't a lunch card at all. It was a pocket full of sunshine (and even more precious was one of her friends had slipped it into her pocket).
So…I'm curious. What are the things you've discovered you most like about yourself and/or do Simple and Ordinary things capture your heart? Please do tell…your stories will be happy little sunbeams shining through my window :).
I’m telling you, I’ve GOT To remember the pocket full of sunshine note once my kids are old enough to read.
Thanks for the walk down a very pleasant memory lane. Some of my all time favorite Pensieve posts!
(I KNEW it wasn’t about a naked man! Tehehehehehehe!)
What no naked man? Soooo disappointed.
I love the post and the note. All I ever find in my husband’s pockets are wadded up tissues – but those do bad things to laundry.
My simple and ordinary moments are watching my dogs sleep in sweet and silly poses and reading the Sunday paper in bed with my husband.
I have a paper cutout of little people holding hands that my little brother gave me when he was just old enough to write his and his three siblings’ names on each person. I have transfered it from wallet to wallet for maybe 15 years.
That is so sweet! And what a great idea – I may start slipping my own “Pockets Full of Sunshine” into my kids pockets 🙂
I was cleaning out one of my many purses the other day and found a pink sheet of paper folded inside. I didn’t remember seeing it there before so I opened it up to find a note scribbled by 4 y.o. Funny Girl. She had drawn two people holding hands, a big heart, and next to her name (*wink-wink*) she wrote “LUV MOM.”
She melts my heart. 🙂
I love getting real mail. There’s something magical about getting something in the post that isn’t a bill. So, I try to send out lots of cards and little notes to friends and family.
This has also led to an overwhelming collection of notecards here. Now I need to send all these out before I let myself buy more.
What a great post and sweet note. I also love the little things. I love the way my kids think their artwork is gorgeous and look at it so proudly. I love my coffee in the morning and I love the first 70ish degree day of spring and the joy it brings. Though, I also love snow. Lots and lots of it, but even seeing the occasional flurry is enough to make me smile.
Thanks for sharing this story and I love your blog!
Great post! I love the pocket full of sunshine – that’s so awesome!
I love enjoying a “guilty” piece of chocolate during afternoon nap while I work. . . it’s a great pick-me-up.
Also, I am so used to working to the sound of the sound-machine waves through the baby monitor that it seems eerily quiet when it’s not on. . .
A friendship like that is a gift.
Oh…I DO love your writing style! Enjoyed this!
Little things–watching my children sleep, listening to my husband snore, the smell of my youngest’s feet after a bath, hugs with grubby hands, and kisses from a chocolate stained mouth, the sound of silence when everyone else is still sleeping, that first taste of coffee to begin my wakening each morning, stealing a nap with my little Schnauzer snuggled against my belly.
Yeah, the little things are what makes it! Thanks for the reminder.
Oh Robin, I love this!
I love walking outside just after a shower. Clothed, of course. Something about the fresh air while my ears are still wet.
I love the way my dog, Chloe, looks up at me expectantly and trustingly.
I love the way my students laugh when I strut around the classroom clucking like the rubber chicken swinging to and fro in my hand.
I love hearing little voices holler my name across the playground simply to say good morning.
I love coaxing a grumpy kiddo into a smile.
I love apples and peanut butter.
I love the look in a kid’s eye when they are truly interested in what you are saying.
I love that one of my students asked me today, “Can you teach us that?” She actually wanted me to teach her some MORE math!
I love watching my students race like mad to write as much as they can in a journal entry before the timer goes off.
I love that no matter where I am in the house (yes, there too) that one of the Boxer Babes always comes in and lays down to keep me company.
I love that I could go on and on with this list.
I love that you made me stop and think about the simple things that bring me joy.
I love cracking open a new book
Going to the mailbox and finding a bunch of new magazines
Someone saying to me, “I heard this song and it reminded me of you” (perhaps that is the one that gets me most of all because I am so ruled by the music I hear and create and listen to)
My daughters’ laughter
When my six year old ASKS if I’ve put a note in her lunch bag, because she enjoys it so much she doesn’t want me to forget.
But, I am a person who enjoys my own company and sometimes the silence of being in the car by myself, a warm cup of Starbucks in the cupholder and nothing but myself to worry about for awhile is all it takes.
This is a wonderful post, Robin. (Sneaking a comment in, cause I have some time tonight.)
I did live alone *on porpoise,* after college and before I was married. I wanted to see if I was up for the challenge. And really, I quite liked it.
Now, I can’t imagine living alone, but ya know, with our kids out of the house, the spectre is there. I should dust off some of my positive memories and see what I come up with. Thanks for the challenge.
Have a blessed weekend.
Hugs, e-Mom :~D
What a sweet note! I want to become the kind of person that leaves sweet notes. I should start doing that…
It’s pretty pathetic that I don’t leave ’em myself more. I LOVE receiving
(or finding them)…so I really need to consciously SEND them! 🙂
Heeeey, yoooou! Oh, dear…you sound like me. Falling off the comment
bandwagon. I MISS my OLD blog friends 😉 (and I know YOU know what /who I
mean 😉 ). You are in “that” stage of life, aren’t you. Gosh, I can
already see it in the horizon, but I’m trying to walk slowly and savor the
“now”. I’ll be over for a visit soon…your blogging spot remains one of my
all-time favorites; ALWAYS substantitve, always a blessing. 🙂
Sarah, I knew I liked you ;). So much of what you’ve said resonates with
me…and I’m tracking right with ya. I love how your six-year-old wants to
make sure you don’t forget, that’s plain precious :). Enjoying the crowds
AND enjoying times alone, I think to be able to be comfortable in both? Is
a good thing!
Kim, I LOVE YOUR LIST!!! I can tell, you’re a WONDERFUL teacher, it is such
a delight to hear what delights YOU! Keep journaling your “list”…it would
make a fantastic blog post, or just serve as an on-going reminder about the
things that bless you daily. Sometimes, a reminder like that is good
medicine. Thanks for helping me to think of even more simple things I adore
:).
Emily, a) I couldn’t decide if you meant after a rain shower or after you’ve
taken a shower, lol, but I guess the wet ears are a giveaway (unless you
took my advice and walked in the rain!). b) have you ever taken an outdoor
shower? We had one on our 20th anniversary trip and it was fabulous. Of
course, it had walls around it and the weather was warm, but looking up and
seeing the sky? I gotta add THAT to my “simple pleasures” list!! Thanks
for helping me rememeber that one!
Oh, my, Cathy…Reading these lists of other people is daggum blessin’ my
socks off! Your little things? Oh, my, they gave me reason to smile :).
Why do we worry about “big things” when these little things are all around
us? I guess sometimes we get blinded, huh? (thanks for chiming in and your
sweet words!)
Daisy, it is. Friends like that in our lives add beauty :).
Rachel, “white noises” are an easy-to-overlook great “little thing”. I
smiled when I read your comment because at first I thought, “How does she
eat chocolate when she takes a nap while she works.” Must not have my brain
functioning in full form just yet, lol
Hi Heather…first visit, too? In this moment, I’m thrilled I’m not alone
in delighting in the Simple and Ordinary. Y’all “get it”; misery may love
company, but so does “cheerful”. Your little happies make me happy, too,
especially remembering how proud my kids were when they were younger with
projects they brought home (or made at home). 🙂
Snail mail. It’s the best. I guess we get so much other, we REALLY
appreciate a sweet card or note. You set an example by intentionally send
notes out–I KNOW they’re appreciated!
Oh, my, Susan…THAT melts MY heart! I continue to have a mad crush on that
child! She’s darling!! 🙂
Please…do me a GINORMOUS favor: take a piccha and post it. If your purse
ever gets stolen (and mine has–TWICE), you’ll at LEAST have a picture of it
(so it’s really doing yourself a favor, too! 🙂 ).
Ha Diana…so NOW I know what gets your attention!! (YIKES!) 🙂 You’re
talking to a girl who’s washed many a load with “invisible” tissues that
shred to piece in the laundry…s i g h :/. Watching my dog sleep is not
near as fun as watching the cats. They’re part feline, part freak, lol. We
read the Sunday paper at the breakfast table…not nearly as cozy as your
reading spot!
Little love notes are the best; to give and to receive. And that you
recognized some of those posts? One of those simple things that makes me
smile. Thanks, Angela :).
Pocket full of sunshine. That is the cutest thing I’ve seen today next to my kids’ faces. Which reminds me that I do make up really funny songs for my kids. In fact, the most recent one is to the tune of Pocket Full of Sunshine and it goes “I’ve got a pocket, pocket full of Joshy, I’ve get a pocket, pocket full of Joshy. Whoa, oh-oh oh!” My 7 year old son and I made it up for his little 22 month old brother named Josh. Silly, for sure, but sooo fun.
I love that my 11-year-old keeps every note I’ve ever put in her lunch box and that when one of her friends’ dogs recently got “ahold” of her lunchbox the thing she was most concerned about was getting her notes back. (We did.) That’s enough reason to keep writing those notes.
And I love that I could help with those bazillion sand dollars. 🙂 (I’ll be there in about three weeks!!)
I love to answer the phone and hear the voice of…
my husband…
a daughter…
grandchild..
childhood friend…
the publishers clearing house sweepstakes. Okay that last one is I wish I could love to hear it.
I love my alone time, and I lived by myself at 16. Although I’ve usually lived with other people, the times I’ve lived alone have been sweet–no other people to work around or adapt your schedule to. Total freedom to do what you want. But I’m an introvert and NEED my time alone. Many extroverts would probably hate it.
On another topic, I love that pocketful of sunshine. I’m off to make two notes and try to slip them into my teen daughter’s jeans without their noticing. Wish me luck!