All the small things

There's something about the weather getting sunnier that makes me a bit sentimental. (No, I didn't rescue a penguin)

The other day I was driving up a hill to uni, when my car ran out of gas. Luckily, I was metres away from a petrol station, so drove in. Well, chugged in is a better word for it. But to my dismay, I had forgotten my wallet.

...Actually I lie, I was out of money; day before pay day etc etc.

This guy came up to me and offered to help push my car, which he thought had broken down. Feeling utterly irresponsible, I confessed that I had just run out of gas and was getting a friend to bring me some cash.

I sat in the car, literally about to explode with stress (it's assignment season) when there was a knock at the window. The guy who spoke to me before put some money into my hand. What a darling.

It's not the money or the generousity, it's the gesture. It really made my week. We complain so much about how fucked up the world is, but it really only takes a small thing to fill your heart with warm fuzzies.

I guess it has a lot to do with how we choose to perceive the world; I mean, I could have felt patronised for being classified like some kind of homeless person (although I'm not far off, being a student), but I didn't.

On Wednesday I was looking after some kids, so I took them ice skating. I was speeding along the ice (I love skating) when this six year old suddenly appeared in front of me. We tried to dodge but I ended up bowling into her, so I scooped her up and literally carried her for the next few metres so she didn't fall over. Her friend came rushing up to me,

"Are you OK?" She asked.

What an absurd question, a 6 year old worried about a 20 year old that had almost bowled over her friend. So sweet.

They wanted to compete in the race that takes place every ice skating session, so I sorted it out for them, being tall enough to talk to the people at the booth. I thought, that really is something, being young enough to not care whether you win or lose; which they would, having legs the length of my arm.

And I was in a lecture the other day, the lecturer started talking about how people run for political office. He told us about this man he ran into at the supermarket, who confessed to running as an independent every election... despite losing every election. He made me think, there's also something courageous in that, maybe I should acknowledge that kind of personal strength next time I bag an MP.

The world is full of these things. Birds building their nests, one piece of straw at a time. Caterpillars morphing into butterflies, taking hours to struggle from their chrysallis until they fly off. Babies struggling to get up off the ground for their first crawl (I've seen this, it's amazing).

And I don't know why I wanted to write this. Except to say that I am, for no particular reason, very happy right now, and very grateful.

We should try and take the time to notice these things.

xx L