Blog
A Smile a Day...
Written by Holly M. Hohlbein Monday, 05 October 2009 00:00
Not long ago, my daughter received a fancy new iPod as a gift. Her “old” iPod was pretty primitive by modern standards: 300 songs; some simple games; the current time. Her new iPod is like a space station: it has “apps” whatever the heck those are; a couple of million songs; and a daily “quote of the day” for inspiration. I usually complain that my children’s electronic toys are going to turn them into helpless automatons without an original thought between them. But this time, I was wrong.
A week or so ago, my daughter took her daily quote literally, and ran with it. It was something about when you are sad in life, make a list of things that make you smile. So she undertook to list 1,000 things that make her smile. She just finished her list last night. And it is a blockbuster. To start with, she hand-wrote it in a rainbow of gel-pen colors and numbered each one. It covers 42 pages (she plans to tack them to her ceiling as wallpaper)! And it contains more warm and fuzzies than puppies (#44); pandas (#424) and babies (#109) put together. Here are some of my favorites:
#270. Snow on bare branches in the woods
#425. Cute sneezes
#560. The word “epic”
#58. People with good intentions
#780.
#314. Tea
#913. Being on your way to somewhere new
#665. Secret identities
#601. Del Taco
#171. Perfect lighting
#747. Entertaining waiters that make you want to tip
#910. Comfy shoes
#361. Freedom fighters
#965. Good listeners
#61. Scented sunscreen
#405. Cliffs
#814. Not having to be the one to clean up confetti
#169. Harmless mistakes
#196. Welcoming arms
#895. Looking on the bright side
#110. Old couples [I think she means me and her dad, but I didn’t want to ask]
#304. Adults who think they are children [I think that’s us, too]
#213. Pokemon, particularly Charmander
#755. Pillows that look like junk food
#233. Colored duct tape
#428. Starry eyed surprise
#287. Hawaiian (the language)
#790. Rekindled friendships
#714. Good dreams
#12. I’m single [she’s 14; I really don’t want to speculate what this means…]
#300. Fog
#261. Hilarious coincidences
#160. Singing along to music with your friends
#870. Space aliens
#32. I have people I can trust with anything
#24. We have a house
#2. I have the best Mom ever [I swear I didn’t make this one up]
#176. Funky furniture
#732. Flamingos
#347 Dresses that make me feel pretty
#430. Brownies
#515 Apologies
#747. Getting a home run
#811. Laughing at yourself
#810. Looking back
#993. Bonfires
Wow! This is a list for anyone who ever had a bad day; bad news; a crying jag. If you read just one per day, you'd have nearly 3 years of smiles. So now I am totally rethinking my narrow view of kids and technology. Maybe it actually compliments their creativity rather than replacing it. Either that, or she’s angling for an iPhone…
