1,047 Reasons to Smile: Little Things that Bring Joy, Happiness, and Excitement
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When the person in the next lane lets you ahead of them in heavy traffic
When you finally get back into your own bed after being away from home
You check the calendar on a Friday and realize that Monday is a holiday
In our overworked, overstressed day to day life, it’s difficult to find time to relax and enjoy the simple, little things in life. These simple little things that make us smile keep us going throughout the day and motivate us to carry on when things may seem difficult. With this book, you won’t have to look far to find these simple pleasures. So put down the Xanx and grab yourself a copy of 1,047 Reasons to Smile.
Elizabeth Dutton
Elizabeth Dutton is the author of 1,033 Reasons to Smile. She is a graduate of the creative writing master’s program at the University of Glasgow and has worked for Mother Jones magazine. Driftwood is her first novel. Born and raised in California, Elizabeth now lives in Chesterfield, South Carolina, where she teaches English at the local community college.
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1,047 Reasons to Smile - Elizabeth Dutton
1,047
REASONS TO
The world, I am sure you will agree, is a weird and wonderful place. There seems to be collectively more good than bad in society, otherwise we wouldn’t all still be here. However, there are times when the insanity or the anguish or the confusion or the evil are just too much for the everyman (and everywoman) to bear. When this world and the other fragile humans that populate it overwhelm us, when life is painful or even simply boring, we need to be reminded of the weird and wonderful. The weird and wonderful are what make us smile, and those smiles keep us going. Smiles are pretty much universal—no matter your language or culture, a smile at its core means friendship, happiness, and ease. What follows are reasons to smile, simple as that. The title quantifies the reasons, but within these pages are far more and far fewer than 1,047 reasons to slap a grin on your gorgeous mug; everyone’s smile mileage will vary. It is safe to say, though, that you’ll find something in here to put a smile on your face. And if not? Then maybe you can smile with satisfaction at having been impervious to these attempts. Whatever gets you there, the object here is to smile.
Kittens in boxes. Even those who are allergic to cats have to admit that a small, fluffy kitten playing, sleeping, or just sitting in a box is pretty cute. Why the box? The cute is concentrated then, contained in one little cute space. And focused cute deserves a smile.
Finding money in a pocket. You know how this goes: you put on a coat you haven’t worn in months, put your hand in the pocket and feel something there. This time, though, it’s not an old tissue or a receipt. It’s cash. Beautiful, forgotten cash.
Wrong number calls from super polite old ladies. You answer the phone. Is Hegatha there?
As your name isn’t Hegatha, you tell the caller, No, I think you have the wrong number.
Instead of a mumbled oh
or just the click of the call disconnecting, the caller says in a frail, sweet, I’ll-bake-you-some-cookies voice, Well, my goodness. I am so sorry to bother you! Have a pleasant day.
And you will, because now you are smiling.
Baby animals. Tiny, adorable, not yet deadly or painfully ugly.
Baby animals wrestling. Tiny, adorable, tumbling around without a care in the world.
Baby animals driving muscle cars. Maybe a little unbelievable, but sort of funny to imagine, right?
Getting back into your own bed after being away from home. Travel for pleasure is great, travel for business . . . not so much. But one thing they have in common is that when the trip has ended and you are no longer sleeping in a strange bed (which you’ve tried not to imagine the look of under a black light) or a friend’s couch and you get to crawl back under your own covers, there is a certain bliss that (no matter how lumpy your own mattress may be) comes with knowing that you are home.
Dapper old men. Old men do dapper like no one else. Young guys just don’t have the suave gravitas to pull it off. When an older gentleman dons a suit and hat to ride a train and graciously gives up his seat to a younger person (even though you know his bones ache and he’d rather be wearing sweats and fleece slippers), you can’t help but smile at the way he keeps it real. Real cool.
Seeing the person in the car next to you singing along with their radio at the top of their lungs. Everybody has that song they love that they can’t help but sing along to. And some people get so overwhelmed with the awesomeness flooding their ears that they forget about the outside world and just belt it out. That’s a boundless, unrestrained happiness