This list began almost 30 years ago, back when websites were called homepages. Originally the list was very short, copied from a website with permission. Eventually, it grew and grew as people suggested new entries to it. All entries were anonymous; I am grateful to everyone who contributed over the decades. You can – and should – still add your own entries using this form – I will then add them to the main list.
The purpose of the list is to remind you that despite all the crap going on, there are still plenty of good things to be experienced, and to be grateful of, in life – and that they are accessible things; simple things most of us have access to. You will not agree with every item, the diversity being the beauty of humanity, but I am confident you will agree with some of these.
Falling in love. Having your 2:00 class cancelled on a beautiful day. Laughing so hard your face hurts. Watching a child do something for the first time after you taught them. A great idea. A scholarship. A hot shower. No line at the book return. A hug. A special glance. Acting in the theater. Clean sheets. Getting mail. Walking your dog. Love. Listening to your Walkman. Falling asleep in the sun on a cool day. Taking a drive on a pretty road. Hugging a big teddy bear. Playing miniature golf. Getting a strike in bowling. Catching your soap on a Friday. Working on a successful project with a good friend. Going out to dinner. Getting an “A” on a paper. Going out on a Saturday night, coming home sober and having had a great time.
Going dancing. Not getting carded. Listening to loud music. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside. Walking out of your last final. Finding the sweater you want is on sale for half price. A chocolate milkshake. Getting a good grade. Oreo ice cream. Finding out there is no final in a hard class. Getting accepted to a program abroad. A long distance phone call. Birthday cakes. Going to the movies. Your favorite lunch. Getting invited to a dance. Being a senior. Clean laundry. Not having an 8:00 class. A bubble bath. Giggling. Holding someone you love in front of a fireplace. Being in love. Whitewater rafting. Losing your wallet, or phone, and having someone return it. Giving or getting a random compliment.
A ski trip. Seeing someone you love do something outstanding. Making the winning score. Roller-coasters. Spring Break. A Saturday shopping trip with a good friend. Being told you did an excellent job by your peers. Going home for Thanksgiving break. Chocolate chip cookies. A care package. Seeing the Grand Canyon. Sliding down a water slide. Taking a walk singing Christmas carols. Sledding during a fresh snowfall. Hearing a song that reminds you of someone you love. Running your best time. Watching a beautiful sunset. Hugging your mom or dad. Being yourself. Holding a kitten. When your boss says “Perfect”. When your dog jumps around because he is happy to see you.
When a friend says “You’re someone special.” A clear day at the beach. Pay day. An unexpected present. Knowing someone really understands. A surprise visit from a friend. Seeing a shooting star. Fresh flowers. A special smile. Finding quarters for your laundry. Solving a problem. Eating. Laughing at yourself. Watching a candle burn. Saying “I love you”. Slam Dunk 360 degrees. Being the ACC champs. Midnight phone calls that last for hours. Driving in the rain. Walking in downtown Buenos Aires in the Spring. Sex on the beach. Walking barefoot in the sand. snowboarding/skiing on a beautiful day. Scoring a goal in a game. Dancing with a beautiful man. Sleeping in the arms of someone that you love. Singing cheesy songs with your friends. Marshmallows over campfires.
Crying in the rain. Camping in the mountains. Resting after hiking all day. Hugging your daddy. Watching the sun rise over the river after dancing all night. Taking off high heels. Walking barefoot on wet grass. Running through the sprinklers. Building a fire on the beach with your friends. Screaming at a fan-filled game of “futbol” ( the real football). laughing for absolutely no reason at all. Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful. Getting all hot and sweaty and then diving into a cold mountain lake. Sleeping naked in silk sheets. Listening to the sound of waves crashing on a beach. Taking off your ski boots after a days skiing. Knitting. Blowing bubbles. Knowing that some very special people think that you are special too.
Catching a snowflake on your tongue. Screaming in the middle of a field at the top of your lungs. Receiving a standing ovation. Lemonade on a summer afternoon. Laughing at an inside joke. Someone holding you in their arms when you’re sick. The first warm Spring breeze. Holding hands with mittens on. Walking through Harlem without getting mugged. Singing at the top of your lungs in a beautiful, lonely place. squeezing somebody you love so tight that you’ll never forget the feeling. Having someone tickle you just to hear you laugh. Hard massages (the good-hurt kind) on bare skin. Dancing long after you begin to sweat and your legs turn to rubber. Singing in the subway like you mean it at two in the morning and hearing a stranger say “You *GO* girl!” Eating New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream with your roommate and talking into the wee hours of the morning. Bending or breaking rules and norms. Freshly baked bread.
Reading Pooh. Knowing in your heart you’ve done something really good. Snuggling with a good friend in a quilt during a thunder storm and feeling totally safe. Kissing someone you love in public until people around you begin to smile and/or applaud. Having what you wished for at 11:11 come true! Making eye contact with someone you have a crush on. Being a janitor with your best buddy and taking breaks on the roof of the school. Knowing all the words to a good song. Reading a bedtime story. Listening to your favorite song in the dark with a friend. Fresh fruit. Eating good, clean, healthy, food. Eating good, clean, unhealthy food. The feeling after going to the the gym or exercising. Taking a great photo. Watching the sunrise from a mountaintop. Praying. Hiking and not seeing another human being for hours or days. Waking up warm in your sleeping bag on a cold night. Finding the airport WiFi actually works well. Engaging in meaningful conversations with strangers.
Doing something by the seat of your pants and having it turn out exactly the way you wanted. Watching the smile reserved for you grow on the face of your beloved every time you are near. Long walks in the park at night with someone you love. Falling asleep with a purring cat next to your face. Pink and white clouds in a sunny blue sky first thing in the morning. Friends. Unexpected rainbows. Smiles. Falling in love for the first time. A hug after a hard day. Slumber parties. Star gazing in warm weather. Pet-sitting for a friend. Frolicking in the rain. Riding a galloping horse over fences. Getting a dance that you’ve worked hard on right in the performance. Hiking Pilot Rock by moonlight. Knowing you are loved. Accidentally overhearing someone say something positive about you to their friends. Landing on the runway after a long flight homeward bound, knowing someone will be there to greet you. Having time to think. Being so in love you feel like you’re becoming one with someone else, and the boundaries of your self are becoming blurry. Asserting your individuality and not caring what other people think.
Getting to eat a real meal after having survived on bread and jam while Euro-railing around Europe. Watching the sun rise and set in the same day in Key West. Kissing a friend. Crossing the finish line. Being there for a friend who needs it. Super bouncy balls. Seeing a full moon and knowing someone far away who cares about you is looking at the same moon. Realizing for the first time that your new college friends are “true” friends. Good friends. Cuddle buddies. Warm blankets. Having someone to hold. Crying when you need to. Real pride. An almost dangerous sense of determination. Feeling needed. Ben and Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. The ability to listen. Daisies. Jersey Surf. Dreaming. Not setting the alarm clock. Color guard. Not taking anything for granted. The taste of true desire. Band-aids. Student loans. Moo-cows. My brother. Goose-feather pillows. Truth. Compassion. Doing it right or not doing it at all. Silence. Appreciation. Roommates and neighbors. School buses. Watching something that you had nothing to do with that makes you proud, sad, and happy all at once. Admiring a work of art. Being transported to another world by a book.
Knowing someone will always love you no matter how much you mess up. God’s love. Getting flowers from your crush. Writing something that says exactly how you feel. Playing in autumn leaves. Having a safe word but never using it. Smiling at strangers and getting smiles in return. Having the weather turn out perfect for an outdoors event or activity you’d planned. Running after someone in a maze. Playing slip and slide on a thick layer of leaves, in the fall, in the rain, at midnight, with good friends, after an awesome concert. Hearing your mom’s voice…and the love that’s in it. Wide open spaces. The bloom of flowers in the spring. The smell of sunflowers. Riding a horse through the mountains. Strawberry ice cream. Skinny-dipping.
Knowing that the people you love know all your faults and still like you anyway. Knowing someone is there for you if you want or need them. Walking along a street alone, and realizing that you love it here, and you love the friends you’ve made here. Seeing your best friend after being apart for a long time. Warm first kisses, surrounded by frogs. Knowing that the first friend you made when you moved to a strange place is still only a phone call away. Moshing to the Blues Traveler song. Felicitations. Secret crushes. Pizza at 1 am. Mommy’s homemade brownies. Feeling the world, and everything in it, disappear when you’re with your special person. Cooking with and for friends. Exploring thoughts, worlds, and bodies in company that makes you feel 100% safe.
Hearing your name being screamed from a large audience as you are performing. Sweeping the deep end of a pool during a violent thunderstorm. Leaping off of a 30 foot cliff into the clear green-blue Mediterranean Sea. Cool, crisp, moonlit, star-filled skies. Gazing into the eyes of the one you love and knowing from the look that the person loves you too. Reading Dr. Seuss. Having a special place all to yourself to go to when you need to get away. Being in a room of people with diverse perspectives and experiencing mutual respectful learning and growth. Gliding down a hill on your bike with the wind whipping into your face. To get your very first baby.
Surfing. Making love in your car at beach when it’s freezing outside. 8am breakfast overlooking the ocean. Walking around the lake & bonding with your sisters. A butt massage! First kiss with someone you’ve crushed on forever. Knowing that the first guy you ever kissed is the guy you will be with for the rest of your life. Putting on a brand new pair of socks. Getting a strike in bowling. Chopping vegetables. Paragliding. When you and a complete stranger notice something funny at the same time and you make eye contact and laugh together without exchanges any words. A t-shirt that fits perfectly.
Making a complete fool out of yourself and laughing hysterically the whole time with your best friends. Wrapping your arms around your crushes neck and hugging them close. Finding out the person that beat you was disqualified. Finding a $20 in the jeans you were about to wash. Having your children snuggle up to you in the middle of the night. Hot fudge brownies. Pristine, deserted beaches. Intimate explorations in an open, mutually curious company. The smell of the lake right after it rains. Freshly cut grass. A bubble bath with candles. Sitting on the edge of a dock watching the sun go down and listening to children playing in the water.
Waking up early and feeling completely refreshed, and watching an orange sun rise through a purple and pink sky. Diving amidst corals. Snuggling by a fireplace with some hot chocolate after a day of winter sports. Waking up next to the love of your life. Fingerpaint. Drinking champagne from a $1,000 glass, on a special night. Feeling the warmth of the sun in spring. The smell of wet cement, on a hot day. Being in love. Finding a starfish at the beach. The sound of wind in the palm trees. Finding a therapist that you really get along well with. The sound of the ocean at high tide. That moment in learning something new when you feel like you understand something you didn’t earlier. Having a leisurely coffee at your favorite cafe. Your barista knowing your coffee order.
Meeting new people and having them become good friends faster than you thought possible. Knowing and feeling that some person really likes you as you are. Counting the til at the end of the day and having it come out right. Meeting the person of your dreams and learning that I am the person of their dreams. Listening to the falling rain drops. Watching the dew drops on the flower petals early in the morning. Being with someone you love when he/she needs you. Listening to what he feels about you from your friend. Sleep in the afternoon after a big meal. Not getting up early in the morning on weekend. Watching an old movie all alone. Bushwalking. Eating food you grew yourself. The first warm summer days. Giving an A.
The smell of coffee on a Sunday morning.