Neil Pasricha

WHAT IS THIS PAGE? I wrote 1000 Awesome Things for 1000 straight days from 2008 – 2012. After an eight-year hiatus, I began another 1000 Awesome Things when I felt old anxiety dragons coming on during the pandemic. Launched April 7, 2020 and a new post every single day till the pandemic is over. Now, we’re doing a second encore. Get your daily #secondencore awesome over email right here. - Neil

#1000 Being suddenly really into birdwatching

#999 Being really excited because your online grocery delivery order coming tomorrow includes a new flavor of jam

#998 Emailing that restaurant you love down the street to tell them you miss them and buy a gift card

#997 Discovering you have a chair in your house you haven’t sat in before and deciding to go ahead and sit in it for a while

#996 When that person walking toward you on the sidewalk crosses the street

#995 Being naked at a surprising time of the day

#994 Making it through a whole day without reading the news

#993 When everyone remembers to mute

#992 Someone sending you a good idea on how to distract your kids for a solid hour

#991 Actually making a recipe from that cookbook that’s been on your shelf since the 80s

#990 Everyone coming out onto their porch or balcony at the same time to clap for frontline workers

#989 Lying in the sun on your carpet like a cat

#988 Suddenly falling in love with a politician who doesn’t represent you in any way

#987 Not worrying about screen time

#986 People from three or more backyards having a conversation over the fence

#985 Being really proud of yourself for using a bit less toilet paper than usual

#984 Realizing you have no idea what day it is and deciding not to bother figuring it out

#983 Neighbours who set up museum-quality exhibits on their front porch

#982 No traffic jams anywhere, anyplace, anytime

#981 Really, really getting your money’s worth from that online video subscription

#980 When the most popular hairstyle suddenly becomes extra, extra shaggy

#979 Changing your home school curriculum so it’s mostly just recess

#978 Finally taking off your mask at the end of a long shift

#977 Being invited to join a group text from a group you didn’t know you were part of

#976 Finding a park or trail somewhere that nobody else knows about 

#975 Cleaning the inside of your toaster oven for the first time this century

#974 Tripling your potato chip intake and deciding not to feel guilty about it

#973 Getting a huge pimple on your nose and nobody sees

#972 Designing a crazy workout circuit through your entire home

#971 Getting a daily status update on that tree in your parent’s backyard

#970 The moment you’re finally done scrubbing all the groceries

#969 Getting a giant life update email from someone you haven’t heard from in forever

#968 Restaurants who have completely mastered zero-contact pickup and delivery

#967 When your grandparents figure out how to videoconference more than just their foreheads

#966 Not setting your alarm clock

#965 Opening your credit card bill and it’s way less than usual 

#964 Fostering a deeper relationship with that empty parking lot near your house

#963 Your friends actually picking up the phone more often when you call them

#962 Finishing a book you started three years ago

#961 Nobody ringing your doorbell to try and sell you something

#960 Video conferencing with friends you haven’t seen in years

#959 Being much more interested than usual in what TV show everyone is watching

#958 No lice 

#957 That thing you were worried about before all this started suddenly feels like no big deal

#956 Your home cooking getting noticeably better

#955 Inspirational quotes written in chalk on sidewalks

#954 Actually knowing what your kids did at school today

#953 When somebody sees how hard you’re working through all this and they stop to tell you

#952 Video conference surprise parties

#951 Hearing somebody talk about the last concert they went to in extremely vivid detail 

#950 That nod of understanding between two people walking past each other wearing masks

#949 When you can’t remember the last time you put gas in your car

#948 Forgiving yourself after feeling like you didn’t get anything done today

#947 Finally using up that bag of old dried lentils from the back of your cupboard

#946 Realizing on the videoconference that everyone’s house is as messy as yours

#945 That friend who looks you straight in the eye and listens deeply without rushing you when you spill into a giant rant about how frustrated you feel about everything

#944 Never forgetting to take your lunch to work

#943 When the curve starts going down where you live

#942 When the pandemic suddenly doesn’t seem like the most important thing going on

#941 Harnessing the power of nonviolent protests to make social change

#940 Eyes-only smiles

#939 Feeling deeply connected to people you don’t know on the other side of the world

#938 Corporate statements that don’t sound like corporate statements

#937 When a law actually gets changed for the better

#936 Getting a compliment on your homemade protest sign

#935 Feeling like that small business you love near your house is going to make it

#934 Finding a host, writer, or feed you can really trust through all this

#933 That big celebrity you follow who’s showing an incredible activist streak

#932 Saying thank you to the teachers for the hardest school year ever

#931 Getting excited when new vaccine news comes out

#930 Overtipping the delivery person

#929 Everybody getting excited when someone’s dog or baby suddenly appears on the videoconference

#928 When a store you really missed opens back up and it’s clear they’re valuing safety above everything else

#927 When some new report says everybody needs to suddenly start doing something you were already doing anyway

#926 Seeing a new species of bird in your backyard

#925 Finding something fun to do in the summer that hasn’t been cancelled

#924 Suddenly being really into weirdly timed naps

#923 Actually making it through an entire online workout

#922 When that neighbor you hardly knew before all this started suddenly feels like an old friend

#921 Noticing you need less than you thought you did

#920 Just going ahead and taking a bath in the middle of the day

#919 Wild animals taking over parts of the city

#918 That one pair of sweatpants that emerges as your clear favorite

#917 When that videoconference nobody wanted to go to gets cancelled

#916 That mental health professional who’s been there for you through all this

#915 Talking to somebody else in the same situation as you and finally feeling understood

#914 Finally finishing that puzzle that’s been sitting on your table for months

#913 That person who has emerged as the activist amongst your family or friends

#912 Finding a tiny little patch of nature where you can be alone right now

#911 Making it through an entire conversation without anyone mentioning coronavirus

#910 Imagining a better future for your kids and grandkids

#909 Being okay with the fact that you're the most vigilant about safety in your family

#908 Using your tiny voice to ask for big change

#907 When your facemask matches your outfit

#906 When those symptoms you’ve been having turn out to be allergies

#905 Never missing a delivery that requires signature

#904 That one guy who still hasn’t got a haircut

#903 Getting back into your old music collection

#902 A noticeable uptick in the amount of handwritten letters you’re sending and receiving

#901 Deciding to make a Monday night feel like a Friday night

#900 Forgetting this is all happening for a while

#899 Feeling nostalgic for the old days when we were just told to wash our hands

#898 Making it through a whole day without your Internet going out

#897 Logging record-breaking hours in your backyard kiddie pool

#896 Accepting that you have no control over what happens with schools this fall and feeling like you’ll be okay

#895 Sports that are already socially distanced

#894 Deciding not to pay attention to the US election for a few months

#893 Going on a distanced walk with that really good friend you haven’t seen since this whole thing started

#892 One minute commutes

#891 Getting asked for ID at the liquor store way more often because you’re wearing your mask

#890 Feeling like you’ve been watching a plant in your garden bloom in slow motion

#889 Letting yourself feel sad with your kids when they talk about something else they’re missing out on right now

#888 Backyard camping

#887 Perfectly placed hand sanitizer stations

#886 Noticing that you’re already feeling excited about the fall migration

#885 Somebody’s wedding or new baby helpfully giving you a much needed sense of time

#884 Being really excited because your neighbor just planted a new bush

#883 That person who carries around extra masks

#882 Discovering your neighborhood has way more kids in it than you thought it did

#881 The first time hugging your mom in months

#880 When your five minute coffee break turns into a nap on the couch

#879 People who do grocery shopping for old people

#878 Setting a new personal record for amount of banana bread eaten

#877 Catching up on a TV show everyone was talking about five years ago

#876 Going for such a long walk from your house that you actually get lost

#875 Catching weeds the day they come into the garden

#874 Way more outdoor haircuts

#873 Libraries offering curbside pickup

#872 Not sharing a microwave with a hundred tomato-sauce-splattering coworkers

#871 Feeling like you're getting to know a side of your kid you would never have known if this wasn't happening

#870 Figuring out a way to reuse some of those extra cardboard boxes or plastic takeout containers

#869 Playing hardcore gangsta rap at full volume in your home office

#868 Finally beating the raccoons and squirrels to that backyard cherry tomato that just turned red

#867 Getting invited over for a barbecue from the neighbor with the big backyard

#866 Singing through your mask at the grocery store and nobody knows who’s singing

#865 Your kids calling you way more often

#864 Putting on that old shirt you haven't worn in five years and getting a compliment on it in your videoconference meeting

#863 Any day where the virus isn’t the top news story

#862 Figuring out when your body really wanted to wake up and go to sleep

#861 Closing the videoconference because your kids are screaming and then telling everyone later there was a tech glitch

#860 Getting a lot better at finding creative places to pee when you’re out walking around

#859 Remembering that everyone else is feeling at least a little bit anxious right now too

#858 When your kids stop screaming after you scream at them to stop screaming

#857 When everyone ahead of you and behind you in line at the grocery store leaves lots of extra space

#856 Noticing the moon a lot more

#855 Having something really onion and garlicky for lunch

#854 Realizing you have no memory of what side of your car the tank is on as you pull into the gas station

#853 Being weirdly excited to see the dentist

#852 Forgiving yourself for being tired and cranky

#851 Only wearing makeup on the top half of your face

#850 Bumping into someone you barely know and acting like long lost friends because you’re so excited to see a familiar face

#849 Getting up earlier or staying up later than everyone at your house to score some alone time

#848 Feeling like you've grown a lot in the past six months even if you don't totally know how yet

#847 Finally using up that old bottle of liqueur with the crusty lid that’s been in your cupboard since the 80s

#846 Feeling like your garage has never been more organized

#845 Letting yourself have a really slow morning

#844 When your kids tell you something they learned from TV and you suddenly feel less guilty about the seven hours of TV they just watched 

#843 People who haven’t gotten lax about social distancing

#842 Seeing the leaves of the trees change color and feeling a sense of grounding in nature

#841 Taking a dump a few inches away from a total stranger way less often

#840 Spending an entire night masterfully reverse engineering your favorite restaurant meal

#839 Boldly declaring a new favorite flavor of potato chips

#838 Watching a solid set of sports highlights for the first time in a long time

#837 When that new mask fits perfectly without any elastic jiggering

#836 When that tiny independent coffee shop near your house opens back up 

#835 A perfectly sized hand sanitizer splotch

#834 Somebody sending you a really good pandemic playlist

#833 A long socially distanced line outside the coffee shop on a sunny Saturday morning

#832 Getting that picnic table at the park with the perfect mix of sun and shade

#831 Finally washing your hands after hand sanitizing all day

#830 Going on a news and social media fast for a few days

#829 Getting really good at following little boxes and stickers on the ground

#828 Leaving a big tip at a small diner

#827 Turning on your own music and cranking the volume after dropping your kids off at school

#826 A virtual doctor’s appointment taking ten minutes instead of the usual half a day

#825 Taking a nap after eating pancakes

#824 Falling in love with something your partner does but which you never noticed before

#823 Winning your fantasy football matchup and briefly feeling like nothing else matters in the entire world

#822 Having a random ten minute conversation with the crossing guard

#821 Being so bored you try a food you always assumed was disgusting only to discover you love it

#820 Vast improvements in your doodling game

#819 Your sister being around on the phone when you just need to tell someone how annoying you're finding everything

#818 Preparing for the winter like a bear

#817 Finally pulling out that dusty fitness equipment from the basement that you've never used and using it

#816 Putting the thickest book in your house on your bedside table and telling yourself it is time

#815 Being really glad this all didn't happen before computers

#814 That one teacher who is really holding it all together

#813 Calling someone up who's living alone just to say hi

#812 When the test doesn't give you a nosebleed

#811 When the videoconference chat fills up with compliments about the thing you just said in the meeting

#810 Sending the funniest GIF in the group text

#809 Suddenly deciding to take up pickling

#808 Giant roving packs of kids running around everywhere in gym shorts

#807 Completely shattering the record for biggest puzzle you’ve ever done

#806 Finding a perfect bright red maple leaf on the ground and taking it home like a new pet

#805 Not feeling guilty about not having plans

#804 Being able to study at any school in the world from any city in the world

#803 Getting invited to a tiny distanced wedding

#802 Deciding to go ahead and spend three hours carving the pumpkin this year

#801 Dogs are happier than ever

#800 Deciding you may never shave your legs again

#799 Walking by a tree you’ve walked by a hundred times and deciding to finally stop and climb the damn thing

#798 Getting way more creative at coming up with dinner based on what's in your fridge

#797 Somebody complimenting your videoconference background

#796 Not having to hug that guy who always hugged you a bit too much

#795 Taking deep breaths

#794 Taking more deep breaths 

#793 Getting really, really good at waiting

#792 Not checking the election results for like an entire hour

#791 Remembering that you are not the election

#790 Skies seeming way bluer than ever before

#789 Above seasonal temperatures

#788 When there are no other customers in the store

#787 Being really, really excited about your brand new rake

#786 Remembering that everyone else taking online classes is also struggling

#785 Slippers

#784 Being way less worried about whether you have something stuck in your teeth

#783 When the meeting changes from a videoconference to a phone call

#782 Feeling like your relationship with the moon is starting to hit the next level

#781 Sending a private message during the video conference and then seeing your coworker look down and silently smirk

#780 Sniffing out the off peak hours at every grocery store near your house

#779 That restaurant that has completely changed their entire business model to survive and is surviving

#778 Trees going about their business as usual

#777 Getting back into a hobby you haven’t loved since you were eight

#776 Letting yourself sit in the grief of all this without rushing yourself out

#775 Being able to recognize a new bird call

#774 Suddenly feeling compelled to write the first poem of your life

#773 When that end of day virtual hangout planned by HR is cancelled by HR

#772 A handwritten thank you note on your takeout container

#771 Daydreaming about flying literally anywhere

#770 Slowly working your way through that one bathroom drawer full of all those tiny hotel soaps and shampoos

#769 The first snowfall reminding you that not everything is changing

#768 Going way overboard on your Christmas decorations

#767 That one friend who consistently has the best movie recommendations

#766 Taking multiple showers a day for seemingly no reason

#765 Developing a deeper appreciation for a good park bench

#764 When the hand sanitizer at the front of the store isn't that extra slippery kind that never dries

#763 Starting to really see people's personalities come out in their masks

#762 Buying your books from the local independent bookstore

#761 When the kid screaming in the background of videoconference isn't your kid

#760 Being really, really excited to try out that new flavor of toothpaste

#759 Getting to know the names of your mail carrier, garbage collector, and package delivery guy

#758 No longer feeling guilty about tapping to pay for that two dollar coffee

#757 Ordering a pizza delivery to the park

#756 Discovering a great new street to walk on that was just outside your old range

#755 Putting the Christmas tree up way too early

#754 Taking a day off work and actually not logging in to do work

#753 When your mask doubles as a giant face scarf on chilly days

#752 Suddenly realizing in the middle of video chatting with family that you’ve become The Jetsons

#751 Finally finding the stupid glue gun

#750 Dozing off while sitting up straight right in front of your computer while on mute and then frantically waking up a couple minutes later and nobody noticed

#749 The sound of mud squishing under your feet on a nice hike on a crisp day

#748 When someone is wearing a mask and you can tell by their eyes they have a fantastic smile so you give them your biggest possible exaggerated eye-smile back

#747 Having all the ingredients on hand to bake the cookie you’re craving right now

#746 Discovering your new favorite version of your old favorite Christmas carol

#745 That moment when the sink and hamper are both empty and all the dishes and clothes are clean and put away

#744 Somehow navigating every single family member’s needs and still somehow getting together for the holidays even if it’s in a different way

#743 Giving yourself a moment to reflect and feel proud with how much you actually did this year

#742 Deciding not to do anything all day

#741 When halfway into a videoconference a cat nobody saw before suddenly wakes up on someone’s lap

#740 That one guy driving a convertible in freezing cold weather

#739 Smiling and nodding on the video conference while also doing something completely unrelated on your computer at the same time

#738 Getting way better at hand gestures

#737 Mixing up a strange brown cocktail from all your liquor cabinet leftovers

#736 Being more excited than ever before to flip over to a new year

#735 When the door at the store is open just enough for you to elbow it open and slip inside

#734 Finally getting out of your house after lockdown and realizing you have forgotten how to drive

#733 When everyone's audio and video works right at the beginning of the meeting

#732 Way more people changing their profile pictures to nature

#731 Rekindling an old relationship you thought was dead and gone

#730 Discovering someone you love is good at something you had absolutely no idea they were good at

#729 Successfully resisting the urge to look at the news before bed

#728 Muting yourself to fart

#727 Daydreaming about post-vaccine life where everyone is running around happy and naked and smiling and laughing and some people are playing harps and stuff

#726 Finally finishing that scarf you started knitting a decade ago

#725 Being off by like three days whenever someone asks you what day of the week it is

#724 Spending ten minutes answering when the cashier asks how you're doing

#723 Suddenly landing a lot more time with a new baby

#722 Figuring out yet another way to rearrange all the furniture in this room

#721 An unexpected family meal

#720 Suddenly air frying everything

#719 When someone you know gets the vaccine

#718 An unexpected hug from the teenager who spends all day in her room

#717 Letting your hair go gray and loving every minute of it

#716 Getting up from your computer in the middle of the day to chug three straight glasses of cold water

#715 Learning to forgive yourself a little bit more

#714 Frying eggs like you’ve never fried them before

#713 Leaving the videoconference with a faraway friend open for long periods of complete silence

#712 Tearing up whenever you see a movie scene in a busy restaurant

#711 Feeling like this is all just too much and deciding to keep going anyway

#710 Telling everyone you’re thinking of moving to Australia

#709 That one family member cutting everyone’s hair getting noticeably better at cutting everyone’s hair

#708 Savoring every single extra minute of daylight you’re getting each day

#707 Not shoveling the driveway because you’re not going anywhere

#706 Catching someone you love’s familiar eye twinkle while video chatting

#705 That intrepid soul who somehow just decided to open up a brand new restaurant

#704 Deleting social media for a while

#703 The right meme from the right friend at the right time

#702 That person handing out disposable masks to strangers like some kind of COVID Robin Hood

#701 Developing a deeper relationship with quiet

#700 When the big chain leaves town and everyone starts supporting the local guy

#699 Briefly falling in love with that friendly tattooed guy in the black hat and floral mask down at the coffee shop

#698 Going back and watching your favorite TV show from the beginning again

#697 A hot bath at lunchtime

#696 Going through old concert videos on your phone

#695 Finally figuring how to wear a mask without fogging up your glasses 

#694 Getting absolutely nothing done today and deciding not to feel bad about it

#693 Entering the shaving your own head phase of the pandemic

#692 Finally reaching out to that old friend you haven’t talked to since before the pandemic

#691 Suddenly deciding it’s time to learn the piano

#690 When schools reopen

#689 Going a little wild and carrying four active flavors of jam in your fridge at the same time

#688 Falling back in love with skating

#687 Starting to give the squirrels in your backyard names

#686 The fact that a vaccine even exists

#685 Screaming hello to that neighbor you just got to know way down the street and they scream hello back

#684 When that roommate talking really loudly to really loud people on a really loud conference call finally goes somewhere else

#683 Wearing a warm mask from just out of the dryer

#682 That one friend you text when you don’t feel like texting with anyone

#681 When the news gets boring again

#680 Delivery everything

#679 Knowing the name of every single dog on your street

#678 When the park gets a new garbage can

#677 Slowly working your way through the entire chocolate aisle

#676 Watching the global curve going down

#675 No substitutions in your curbside grocery pickup

#674 Walking by an old folks home and seeing everyone inside the windows eating and talking and laughing again

#673 Being able to go to some faraway lecture you never would have flown to before

#672 Staying in your robe until one minute before your first meeting

#671 That one mask with the perfect length elastics for your head

#670 When a coworker compliments your mug

#669 Fear of needles is at an all-time low

#668 When your husband and kids are all miraculously out of the house at the same time

#667 Feeling a million different emotions and feeling like that’s okay

#666 When the food delivery that says it’ll be here in an hour suddenly shows up half an hour early

#665 Narrowing your entire wardrobe down to two outfits

#664 Taking off your socks very, very slowly in the middle of the meeting without anybody noticing

#663 Feeling like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel

#662 Going a whole day without ordering something online

#661 Walking the streets for hours late at night to just sort of check in on how the whole town is doing

#660 Picturing humanity punching coronavirus in the face and coronavirus goes flying and the crowd goes wild

#659 Finding a quiet spot in a loud house

#658 Vaccinated people hanging out with vaccinated people

#657 Fully tricked out backyards

#656 Thinking about which pandemic practices you want to carry forward into your post-pandemic life

#655 People dressing like it’s the hottest day of summer on the first warm day of spring

#654 Now Hiring signs

#653 When the local corner shop finally reopens after six months and you go in and buy six months worth of stuff

#652 Actually making travel plans

#651 Getting what feels like the most important car wash of your life

#650 Finding some reason to get dressed up in fancy clothes

#649 Way more people dyeing their hair bright and wild colors

#648 Getting smiling selfies from friends and family as they get vaccinated

#647 Takeout night feeling a bit less like lazy dinner and a bit more like passionate community activism

#646 Doing laundry between meetings

#645 Successfully taking off your mask without getting the strings all twisted in your glasses

#644 Completing your metamorphosis into a plant person

#643 Way less normal colds

#642 Blindly searching your purse for a mask and pulling it out and snapping it on all without breaking your stride as you walk into the store

#641 Living in a country where the vaccine rollout is actually going well

#640 Finding out your favorite celebrity is vaccinated

#639 When everyone in the meeting compliments your new office plant

#638 Finally going back into a store you haven’t been into for a year and there are no hard feelings

#637 Adding a gift note to yourself on your online order

#636 Mastering the overly exaggerated eye smile

#635 Planning your next family vacation

#634 Remembering this is not over yet

#633 Surprise beards

#632 Being almost cartoonishly over the top friendly in the grocery store because you know you look like a bank robber

#631 When that place you worked at before all this began calls you up to see if you’ll come back because they suddenly got really busy

#630 Lineups down the street to get into the library

#629 That really close friend who just booked a ticket to come visit

#628 Watching the delivery guy approaching your house on the app and feeling like you’re hunting

#627 Magnolia trees as a metaphor

#626 Putting on sweaters and jackets and working from picnic tables even when it’s freezing just to get out of the house

#625 Local governments who don’t confuse everyone by changing their minds about the rules every couple days

#624 Huffing and puffing joggers who turn their head away from you they run past

#623 When the weather stays warm for a few days in a row

#622 Suddenly remembering what someone’s mouth looked like

#621 Calling or texting friends currently battling third waves

#620 Yet another new puppy on your street

#619 Taking whichever vaccine you’re offered as soon as you’re offered it

#618 Very slowly turning into that lady covered in birds at the park from Home Alone

#617 Staying vigilant after your first dose

#616 Suddenly watching every TV show and movie with closed captions

#615 Picking up a family member from the hospital after they recovered from COVID

#614 Hitting mute in the videoconference right before sneezing

#613 Getting really good at packing boxes and working the tape gun thanks to free returns

#612 When the takeout is still hot

#611 Closing your dishwasher with your foot and suddenly realizing you’ve hit peak kitchen mastery

#610 When your favorite show drops a new season and it’s not terrible

#609 Discussing the names of all the vaccines like they’re superheroes

#608 Companies who double the salaries of their frontline workers

#607 The one day after every single bud on the tree has bloomed and before a single petal has fallen on the sidewalk

#606 Going to school from your bed

#605 Kids just automatically putting on and wearing their masks like it's no big deal

#604 Finally settling on your perfect virtual background

#603 Slowly shifting your biological clock to Nature Time

#602 Porch package pickup neighbors

#601 Not having to wear a bra

#600 Changing from your nighttime pajamas into your daytime pajamas

#599 Book clubs meeting in the park

#598 Kids playing in the streets the way kids used to play in the street

#597 Confidently having a full blown nap in the park

#596 When the local theater announces they’re coming back

#595 Finally meeting that baby born a really long time ago

#594 Wearing a neon pink dancing llama mask with a stiff business suit

#593 Getting your second dose

#592 Not getting caught up in the which vaccine is better debate

#591 Another country opening back up

#590 That general feeling in the air of things slowly getting back to normal

#589 Hugging your parents for the first time in a year

#588 Skyrocketing increase in number of bird photos in your group chat

#587 Everyone being ridiculously friendly in the vaccine lineup

#586 Senior school officials announcing they're done with online learning

#585 When the local theater announces their lineup for next season

#584 Watching your basil leaves getting bigger through the day

#583 Taking off your mask and smiling like how a movie star would take down her hair and shake it out

#582 When the park has a ton of picnic tables all spread apart

#581 Rediscovering outdoor fires as a form of leisure

#580 Everyone being cool about everyone else's home life also being visibly in distress in the meeting background

#579 Discovering your partner's work voice and teasing them about it

#578 That person you never thought would figure out videoconferencing has now actually figured out videoconferencing

#577 Remembering your first maskless hug and who it was with and where it happened

#576 Cities who have spray painted big hangout circles at their parks or beaches

#575 Your nine year old playing with her best friend in person after waiting for months

#574 Park plus blanket plus book

#573 Online delivery boxes doubling as jungle gyms for the kids or cat

#572 That cactus you got at the beginning of the pandemic unexpectedly blooming

#571 August tanlines in June

#570 Listening to your pandemic playlist and noticing the music has shifted from relevant to nostalgic

#569 When the baby falls asleep in her carseat and you have just enough time to make a sloppy fast food run before she wakes up

#568 A couple of eighty year olds suddenly getting married

#567 When your dog meets another dog at the park with the same name

#566 Driving by that city pool that’s been empty the whole pandemic and its suddenly full of  of laughs and splashes

#565 Browsing in bookstores again

#564 Middle of the day make out sessions

#563 Going to an airline website again and it feeling like the first time you visited Yahoo

#562 Getting your second dose

#561 The way your employer wants people to return to the office is the exact way you want to return to the office

#560 Hand sanitizer that doesn’t smell awful

#559 When a butterfly lands on that flower right on the edge of the trail you're hiking

#558 Babies born during the pandemic catching up on a year’s worth of gossip at the playground

#557 When the meeting location changes from video to in-person

#556 Jumping through the sprinkler with your kids

#555 Rekindling your love affair with patios

#554 The sound of a bouncing basketball echoing around the playground as the sun sets

#553 In-person graduations

#552 Planning a trip to anywhere just so you can be somewhere else

#551 Global vaccination rates rising slowly but surely

#550 Taking a suitcase full of books on vacation

#549 Picking up a soda can somebody left on the counter and there’s like more than half left

#548 Spending a boiling hot day jumping into freezing cold water

#547 Deleting social media for the weekend

#546 Your friend with the pool can have everyone over again

#545 Actually somewhat enjoying your first traffic jam in a year

#544 Walking into some building you haven't been inside forever and they redid the lobby

#543 Reading a trashy magazine in big sunglasses on a sunny beach

#542 When the kids birthday party moves somewhere fun that just reopened

#541 Babies wearing bikinis and sunglasses

#540 When the whole extended family is finally fully vaccinated and grandpa has everyone over for a big backyard barbecue to celebrate

#539 Lightbulbs flicking back on in the marquee above the independent movie theater downtown

#538 Eating berries right off the vine and they’re all warm and juicy from the sun and then the juice dribbles down your chin

#537 A lot more Mentos commercial smiles on the street

#536 Blue and yellow and pink and gold wildflowers in the ditch beside the country highway

#535 Pouring an entire bag of chips into a giant plastic bowl and declaring this a party

#534 Getting more comfortable with dragonflies landing on your shoulder for a quick catchup

#533 Finally being able to do that awkward half-smile thing on the street again whenever you pass someone you know but don’t know super well

#532 Finally being able to browse in a used bookstore for an hour without feeling any time pressure

#531 Feeling like you don’t want to work as hard after the pandemic as you were working before the pandemic and feeling okay with that

#530 When the whole dorm is fully vaccinated and everyone's raring to go for in-person classes

#529 When the percentage of people double vaccinated ticks up by another digit

#528 The first big party where everyone is double vaccinated and you just feel so relaxed and grateful and happy

#527 Learning the names of a couple more tree species and feeling like a forest ranger

#526 Skinny-dipping with someone you never thought you’d go skinny-dipping with

#525 When your anti-vaxxer cousin finally gets vaccinated so you can have that big night out together you’ve been planning for a year

#524 Pool parties where anyone can jump in the pool and yet there’s also no pressure to go swimming

#523 Double vaccinated dating

#522 Seeing one of your best friends in person for the first time in over a year and discovering your conversation still goes really deep really fast

#521 Realizing you are definitely a birder now and fully embracing it

#520 Briefly forgetting all stresses and just watching the Olympics

#519 That one guy who always cannonballs into the pool

#518 Dark orange sunsets with loons calling from across the lake

#517 A surprise three hour phone call with an old friend

#516 Picking the first cucumber you've ever grown

#515 Floating on your back in a lake and staring up at the sky

#514 When you’re using a public bathroom and you let out a big fart but right as you do someone dries their hands with one of those super loud dryers and it drowns out the noise

#513 When the very last person in your extended family gets their second dose

#512 Finally having your aunt’s famous spicy potato salad at the first family post-vaccination potluck

#511 Randomly finding a good new stretch for your back and then just stopping everything to twist and say ‘ahhhh’ for three minutes

#510 Finding one last teabag in the box you thought was empty

#509 That one librarian who always seems to know exactly what you need to read

#508 When that show you fell in love with early in the pandemic drops another season

#507 Scoring the last park bench in the shade

#506 Feeling like you and your barbecue have really got to know each other on a new level

#505 The few minutes after the kids are buckled up and before you back out of the driveway

#504 Finally having a professional shave your scraggly neck

#503 That one guy who cracks loud jokes in the two seconds of silence between previews at the movie theater is finally back in business

#502 Firing up your dormant fantasy football group chat again

#501 Eating at a restaurant where everyone is vaccinated

#500 The sound of a baby laughing

#499 Suddenly way more friends crashing on your couch

#498 Music wafting over the fence from a backyard neighborhood wedding

#497 Doing yoga outside late at night with birds and crickets singing in the background

#496 When your toddler randomly spends half an hour playing with blocks so you can make a coffee in peace

#495 Realizing you are still barely under the warranty when your laptop suddenly stops working

#494 When your neighbor next door leaves a paper bag on your porch and inside there's three big tomatoes and a zucchini

#493 When that book you placed a hold on four months ago is finally waiting for you at the library

#492 The deep spiritual hum of the cicadas

#491 Staring at a pinecone and suddenly marvelling at its potential

#490 Spending two hours getting your school supplies all arranged and organized in that one absolutely perfect way that only you like

#489 Losing a hat in the lake and having it turn up down the beach four days later

#488 Realizing you haven’t had a cold in eighteen months

#487 Giving yourself a little coffee steam facial by breathing in super slowly at the top of your piping hot mug

#486 Turning your fan on that ridiculously loud and fast top speed overnight just because you’re crazy like that

#485 Chomping up and down a cob of hot farm fresh corn like a wild animal

#484 Taking off your steaming running shoes and peeling off your sweaty socks at the end of a twelve-hour shift

#483 When the bakery down on main street comes up with another ridiculous new flavor of donut like maple bacon or pink lemonade or chocolate peanut butter banana

#482 Finally seeing a sold sign on that one house that’s been for sale up the street for months and starting to daydream about who might move in

#481 The first tiny speck of green leaf poking out of your garden soil from that thing you planted last year but figured probably didn't make it

#480 Rubbing your naked body against the air conditioning vent at the end of a hot and sticky day

#479 A hummingbird stopping mid-air right in front of you to seemingly just give you a little wink

#478 Babies video chatting with grandmas

#477 Hearing the high school band practicing outside in the mornings again

#476 Flipping over your grilled cheese to discover you perfectly cooked the bottom side

#475 Going for a walk and coming across the biggest mushroom you have ever seen in your entire life

#474 Dramatically switching from iced coffee to hot coffee or hot coffee to iced coffee

#473 Someone telling you they're fully vaccinated before you ask them

#472 Having the best background on the video conference

#471 Old people on park swings

#470 When someone is wearing the same shirt as you on the video call and then they yell out “Nice shirt!”

#469 Sunny Septembers

#468 When your old dog likes your new dog

#467 Walking outside and it’s perfectly “room temperature” with no need for any weather-related appendage or accoutrement

#466 When the hurricane suddenly veers away

#465 When a jar of jam randomly falls off a grocery store shelf and you do a behind-the-back catch and you don’t think anybody saw you but then some guy way down the aisle yells out “Nice catch!”

#464 Teaching a baby to wave

#463 Stopping for a moment to feel lucky whenever you are deciding what shoes to wear

#462 Remembering the attachment before sending the email

#461 Putting up Halloween decorations way too early

#460 When you accidentally drop something and there’s a huge crash but somehow that baby napping just keeps napping

#459 Completely nailing the timing on that avocado

#458 Opening the clean dishwasher and it’s already empty

#457 That one house on the street that debuts a jack-o-lantern on their porch like three weeks early but don’t worry because they also got a fresh one coming later

#456 When the conference call just before the weekend gets cancelled

#455 The perfect crunch as you butter the toast

#454 When the tiny Halloween chocolate bars your kids like are different than the tiny Halloween chocolate bars you like

#453 Finally getting your desk chair back from the cat and finding it nice and warm

#452 Picking up an old book and finding that bookmark you lost ten years ago inside

#451 Having two or more kinds of pie on your plate at the same time

#450 Walking back into the airport for the first time in forever and realizing how much you missed flying anywhere

#449 When the store is closing right when you get there but then they unlock it just for you

#448 A coworker telling you they missed your smile after you come back to work after being off sick

#447 When you finish a great book and the next one in the series is already out

#446 Staring into that little whirlpool in the tub as the water drains

#445 When you and your partner both leave your phones at home for date night

#444 Lunch in a swirl of falling leaves on a crisp sunny day with your favorite sandwich on your favorite picnic table at your favorite park

#443 Old people doing sidewalk hopscotch

#442 Steaming apple cider in your boyfriend’s hoodie on a sunny day

#441 Squeezing out way too much toothpaste or conditioner but then putting your life on hold for three minutes as you successfully manage to finesse some of it back into the tube

#440 Slowly weaning yourself off tech giant monopolies by choosing to consciously diversify your time and attention

#439 The first big fully vaccinated wedding you go to where the dance floor ends up really crazy and sweaty and bumping just like it used to

#438 That one guy wearing a mask in a place where they don’t make you wear a mask and you probably don’t need a mask but it’s not a bad idea and might make us a bit safer and it doesn’t affect anybody negatively and nobody knows that guy’s life so props to that guy

#437 Vigilant vaccine checks and long loud nights inside that absolutely packed neighborhood restaurant

#436 When the cake plops flawlessly out of the pan

#435 Three different Halloween costumes for three different Halloween parties

#434 Halloween masks now serving dual purposes

#433 Actually trick-or-treating in person again

#432 Moving your cell phone away from your bed

#431 Eating dinner with friends on a cold fall night beside a fire pit

#430 Seeing a winter bird return to your backyard after a long summer away and going out to say hello

#429 Watching the global vaccination rate tick up very slowly but surely

#428 Working outside on a park bench and soaking in all the fall colors at absolute peak pop

#427 How messy your face is when you finish a shawarma

#426 Getting caught in one of those giant yellow and orange tornado-y leaf storms right after a huge gust of wind knocks like half the leaves off a giant tree

#425 Going anywhere by ferry

#424 Watching a jumbo jet fly over a freight train rumbling on the tracks above you as you whip down the highway and pausing to silently congratulate humanity on how far we’ve come 

#423 Kissing and hugging your fresh sapling after bundling them up for their first winter

#422 Someone randomly leaving a piano on the side of the road and everybody passing by stopping to play on it for a little bit

#421 When the Internet goes down and everybody walks out of their rooms and starts actually talking to each other

#420 When the hand sanitizer smells really good

#419 Waking up dreading the messy kitchen you left to go to bed early to find your partner cleaned it while you were sleeping

#418 When your phone is at 1% but you’re somehow able to just send off those last three texts before it dies

#417 When the pencil is sharp but not too sharp

#416 When the boss lets everyone go home early because it’s really nice out

#415 A toddler handing you a book and climbing into your lap

#414 Buying something you bought online last year from the local guy this year

#413 That guy who stops and dances with the street musician

#412 When your favorite bookstore goes back to normal hours

#411 When that thing you always buy suddenly shows up in holiday packaging

#410 When your dog poos in the park but you don’t have a little baggie but then someone pops out of nowhere and gives you one

#409 Walking back into your kitchen right as the toast pops

#408 Finally having dinner with that group of friends you haven’t seen since before the pandemic

#407 Seeing your first ever owl

#406 Spending most of your holiday gift budget on books

#405 Everybody in your vaccinated workplace is sharing Christmas treats again

#404 Perfectly fitting all three fried eggs on the frying pan

#403 A baby hiccup in the middle of silence

#402 A tiny bird singing its heart out alone on a power wire in an empty parking lot

#401 Homemade advent calendars

#400 Friends texting you photos of their kids getting vaccinated

#399 Getting your garbage bins to the curb just before the truck arrives

#398 Putting the Christmas tree up in a new location just to shake things up

#397 Deciding to not read anything else about Omicrom for the rest of the day

#396 When your kids don't hear you opening a bag of potato chips

#395 When that banana waiting for you in the fruit bowl is at absolute perfect ripeness

#394 The first time you make something homemade that you’ve always bought pre-made

#393 Successfully flipping the egg without breaking the yolk

#392 Endlessly wearing masks means you don’t have to bother plucking chin hairs

#391 When you call in really late to your video meeting but somehow just a few seconds before the boss shows up

#390 Deciding to drop a holiday tradition that's been adding stress and deciding to not feel guilty about it

#389 Sitting alone on a park bench and listening to the snow falling all around you

#388 Thirty-second surprise neck and shoulder massages in the middle of cooking dinner at the end of a long day

#387 Eyeballing the day after your last exam on the calendar and pre-feeling some of that giddy euphoria

#386 That one friend who listens to your hour-long stressed out rant about how it's starting to feel like everything is falling apart again

#385 Laying low for a while

#384 Getting your booster as soon as you can

#383 Seeing the delivery truck pull up in the middle of your street and wondering if the Cardbox Box Roulette will land on your porch

#382 Seeing a puppy see snow for the first time

#381 Holding onto some parts of the simplicity of last year's Covid Christmas by choice

#380 That melting odd-looking snowman across the street briefly reflecting back to you a strangely poignant metaphor about life itself

#379 A house slowly filling with shortbread, wrapping paper, and Christmas tree perfume

#378 Hugging everyone in your bubble

#377 Keeping a few of the simpler traditions you started last Christmas and feeling really good about it

#376 Revisiting your childhood ghost-self while watching Rudolph with your kid

#375 Deciding to ignore that little sore throat you just woke up with today hoping it goes away tomorrow with a good night’s sleep and then it does

#374 Realizing all the new rules coming in place are things you’ve already been doing anyway

#373 Texting your husband to do something when he’s upstairs and you’re downstairs

#372 Scrolling back through your camera roll and realizing you did lots of great things this year

#371 The moment you go from watching the little car coming to pick you up on a screen to seeing its headlights turn onto the dark road you’re standing on

#370 Pausing to realize you’re entering your third year with this thing and you’re still standing

#369 When that person jabbing the swab up your nose doesn’t jab too far

#368 Falling logs and loud pops in the fire

#367 When your stapler runs out of staples right after you staple your last staple

#366 Thinking it’s way too late to order something way too greasy but just going ahead and ordering it anyway

#365 Someone randomly showing up to the zoom call in a costume

#364 Getting a friend’s Christmas card like two weeks after Christmas and letting it briefly give you that festive feeling again

#363 Getting covid but then recovering fairly quickly and so far no long term issues

#362 Racing outside to put your garbage out but then realizing you already missed the garbage truck but then just nonchalantly walking across the street in your robe and dumping your garbage in the neighbor’s bin because theirs gets picked up later

#361 Making the last-second call to grab an umbrella on your way out the door this morning and then being totally vindicated by the rain starting on your way home

#360 Finally finishing a really long book

#359 Realizing you accomplished nothing so far today so deciding to spend a few minutes cleaning up your computer desktop and calling that a win

#358 That one house on the street who always has their sidewalk shoveled and salted and cleared just after the snowstorm

#357 Successfully completing a daycare drop off after a fresh snowfall and somehow still making it to work on time

#356 Somehow finishing your shampoo and conditioner bottles at the same time

#355 Rejigging the entire 3D puzzle of your freezer to somehow squeeze this giant box of chicken fingers in there

#354 When it's snowing and it sticks to the grass but not the pavement

(Michelle Hedstrom)

#353 Two of your favorite people on a long podcast together

#352 When your puppy is victorious in killing the squeaky part of her toy

(Marlene Meyer)

#351 Running into a friend you haven’t seen since March, 2020

#350 Saturday morning naps on the couch

(Terri Renee Woodall)

#349 Your teen son saying ‘I love you’ when hanging up the phone even when he’s with his friends

(Cassie Glasgow)

#348 When you have something in the microwave and toaster at the same time and they finish and beep in unison

(Hillary Anne)

#347 When the pharmacy actually has that weird ointment you need for your ass in stock

#346 Actually remembering the password for that site you haven’t logged into for years

#345 Giving your partner your cell phone on a Friday night and asking them to give it back to you on Monday morning

#344 When the hold music at the cable company somehow hits you right in the heart

#343 Sneezing with your mouth full and it doesn’t spray everywhere

#342 Cooking for a loved one who’s just been released after 27 years of incarceration

(Kathryn Parr)

#341 Finally buying concert tickets again

#340 Interviewing with a panel of female leaders within a company for a new job and then having my property manager and her assistant come by to fix the water heater in my apartment for a full day of female empowerment

(Chelsea Perry)

#339 Thinking your passport expires soon but it’s good for five more years

(Tanya Linau)

#338 That one warm day in the middle of all the cold ones

#337 Feeling more and more comfortable with the fact that you’re ready to move on even if this thing isn’t technically over yet

#336 Booking a flight and feeling like you’re really going to go this time

#335 The first time you go to the theaters in like two years

#334 Blue blue skies on white white days

#333 Tiny kids in big puffy snowsuits

#332 When it’s freezing outside and the snowy path has the perfect squeak

#331 Noticing you’re feeling less worried when somebody sneezes

#330 Kids playing in the snow for hours and completely exhausting themselves just before bedtime

#329 Pandemic fatigue fogs very slowly starting to lift

#328 When you get a package delivered when you're on a call and the dog doesn't bark

#327 Closing all seventy-four browser tabs you have open and briefly feeling totally free

#326 Finally taking your first sip of coffee after a few interruptions and it’s somehow still hot

#325 Saying something really smart in the meeting and then not saying anything for a long time so that one can really get its moment in the sun

#324 When you pull into the parking lot listening to a great song and when you walk into the store they have their radio tuned to the same station

(Dara Smida)

#323 Bending over to pick something up in a weird way and discovering a great new back stretch while you’re down there

#322 Successfully choosing the right lane at the car wash when it’s super busy and getting in and out fast

(Megan Amos)

#321 A sluggish internet signal picking up speed right before an important zoom meeting

(Robin Jenest Lezotte)

#320 An extra creamy latte with a perfect amount of foam

#319 Walking to the gym for the first time in two years and telling yourself it is time

#318 Veering to avoid hitting a critter darting across the road and not killing it

(Cathleen Doyle Bernhardt)

#317 A steaming bald head after a satisfying winter run

(Graeme Drinkwalter)

#316 Looking for the helpers

#315 Hiking a favorite snow covered trail and realizing those other tracks were from you and your dog two days earlier

(CJ Emerson)

#314 Getting the last blueberry lemon scone at the bakery

(Gay Wrye)

#313 When nobody in your important early morning virtual meeting realizes just how frantic and chaotic the last two hours of your life were

#312 Seamlessly and smoothly grabbing your credit card or license out of the wallet pocket on the first try without having to keep trying to grab it with the tips of your fingers

(Anna D’Alfonso)

#311 When the restaurant with the good pickles gives you extra pickles

(Sarahjane Cottrell)

#310 Moonlight snowshoeing with someone you love

(Carole Girard)

#309 When a six-part Excel formula works out correctly

(Ari Polsky)

#308 Helping a sewer

#307 When sidewalks are clearing of snow and salt and you can ride your skateboard with your friends again

(Amber Rohal)

#306 When the Kleenex goes through the washer and dryer and miraculously stays in one piece

(Margaret Zimmerman)

#305 When you forget your library card but the librarian lets you pick up your holds anyway

(Krista Jorgensen)

#304 Getting into your parked car at the same time as the guy gets into his parked car next to you and instead of racing to see who’s faster to leave you get the head nod for you to go first

(Maureen Schlosser)

#303 Going into the women’s public bathroom in the morning and seeing the seat up and knowing no one has sat there since it’s been cleaned

(Sonya Shaffer)

#302 Panicking to prep a meeting agenda and then finding out you drafted one weeks ago

(Catherine Joyes)

#301 When your book club decides to read a cookbook one month and everybody brings something they made from the cookbook so the book club discussion is both fun and delicious

(Veronica Jerguna)

#300 The moment when the airplane boarding is complete and the seat next to you is still empty

(Leah Boothe)

#299 Someone completely and shamelessly scream-singing and dancing while walking past you on the sidewalk

#298 Noticing that all the doors to public buildings are starting to be unlocked and open again

(Jennifer Smith)

#297 When the person who banged your car in the parking lot leaves a note with their number

#296 Hearing one roofer say to the other roofer “We’re almost done” after three straight days of hammering above your head while you work from home

(Lesley Diane)

#295 That plot moment in a novel that makes you go ohhhhhhhhh

(Heather Morse)

#294 When you’re driving really slowly and the address you’re looking for is actually visible from the road

(Haley Ingram)

#293 Wheelchair accessible nature trails

(Paige Perry)

#292 When the baby wakes up right before you need to leave the house so you don’t have to wake them up

(Pam Hansen)

#291 Biting into an apple that looks spongy and discovering that it’s actually crisp

(Susan Drake)

#290 Finally seeing my students’ smiles for the first time even though this is my second year teaching them

(Nicole Thompson)

#289 Seeing all the dogs in car backseats coming through the drive through at my job

(Shi Lovell)

#288 Going out for lunch and your daughter is your server

(Tam Aiken)

#287 When emergency response vehicles are coming down the road and all the drivers on both sides of the road pull over right away

(Megan Amos)

#286 Hearing the little boys playing and laughing upstairs from my basement apartment

(Charlene Owen)

#285 Approaching another car in the dark on a deserted road and you both politely turn off your high beams the exact same millisecond

(Amy Biagini)

#284 A fresh set of contact lenses

(Neil Hopkins)

#283 The moment the first buds of the spring appear on the trees

(Alicia Stetler)

#282 Realizing a song you love is actually a cover and then going back to discover the original

#281 When you see your dogs little foot moving when they are dreaming of running

(Chelsea Williams)

#280 Squeezing the bottle of dish soap while washing the dishes and a cascade of tiny bubbles pop out and float all around you

(Patricia Garner)

#279 Book fair days at school

(Shanna Keller Pollan)

#278 A sun-warmed car on a cold winter day

(Fatema Shabbir)

#277 Seeing your friend in the coffee line when the coffee line is too long for you to wait in and then suddenly getting a text from them asking you what you want

(Tina Kat)

#276 Walking past the empty kitchen sink to find the leftover water droplets pooled together in the shape of a heart

(Corrinne Rose)

#275 When stuff smells like where you were last time you were having a good time

#274 Singing along to a song even when you don’t know the words

#273 When babies first learn to crawl and they can only go backwards

#272 The *TINK* you hear when hitting a golf ball with a driver and knowing you got it just right

#271 Being chosen from the audience to go onstage and be part of the magic trick

#270 When you finally get the words to the fast part of a song right

(Mel)

#269 Opening the windows for the first time after winter season and smelling the spring air and hearing the birds

(Julie)

#268 Squeezing under an umbrella with a stranger

(Mel)

#267 Winking at someone and them completely understanding what to do

(Josh)

#266 Little birds chasing big birds

(Douglas)

#265 Keeping all the cotton balls from the tops of medicine bottles and then never buying cotton balls

(Emily)

#264 Commenting about something during class and getting a deep “oooooooooh” from the professor

(Mel)

#263 The sound of your dog’s collar jingling as he comes running to you at the front door

(Leila)

#262 Driving through a deep puddle at a good clip

(Jerry)

#261 Seeing your parents flirt and being secretly proud but trying to hide it by making ewww noises

(Christie)

#260 4:30pm on Friday when everyone at the office just kinda slacks off until 5:00

(L-Dogg)

#259 When you hit the cart that picks up the golf balls at the driving range

(Eddie)

#258 Being asked to be a bridesmaid when you didn’t think you were that close

(Christie)

#257 Deleting hundreds of unopened junk emails simultaneously

(Besch)

#256 Skipping rocks on a quiet morning at a calm lake

(Navraj)

#255 Going to a concert and being able to sing an entire song live with the band

(Josh)

#254 Hearing the mail slot open and the mail drop onto your front tiles

(Kirk Elliot)

#253 That immediate relief that comes right after you pull out a splinter

(Barbara Anne)

#252 When the weather is finally getting warmer and you start seeing all the dogs hanging out of the car windows again

(Jen German)

#251 The moment after the daffodils are fully bloomed and before they’ve started falling over

#250 Using a word in a sentence you’ve never used before and then someone says “Nice word!”

#249 When you notice the gas station employee raising the price on the street sign but you manage to fill your tank before the price changes on the pump

(Stacey Koss)

#248 When the office cafeteria is finally busy again

#247 Flying across the country for the first time since before the pandemic to spend time with family

(Phyllis Lippe)

#246 Suddenly smelling rotisserie chicken in your house and going downstairs to find it and then snapping open the plastic lid and ripping a hunk off while your dad’s still out on the driveway bringing in the rest of the groceries

#245 Seeing a man walking down the street carrying a gorgeous bouquet of flowers

(Eleanor LeFave)

#244 When you are in yoga class and get into a very hard position and suddenly you see a friend way across the room and you manage to wave at them with like three fingers and they see you and wave back

#243 When you really don’t want to leave your friend’s place and then it suddenly starts raining and they ask you to stay for dinner

#242 When your music perfectly matches the dance that the guy is doing while holding the Little Caesars sign

(Ashlee Allan)

#241 Retyping in the correct website address before the wrong one loads

(Mo)

#240 Finally finding that super tiny piece of Lego after searching and searching and searching the bottom of that giant Tupperware container of like a million pieces

#239 Hearing your teenage sons voice crackling and for the first time realizing he’s becoming a man

(Billejo Bernal)

#238 Spotting a cat in an apartment window

#237 Finding a little stack of old photographs when cleaning the house and pausing time to briefly flip through the memories

#236 Cracking your back by twisting using your desk chair

#235 When your grandparents sneak you money

(Cathryn)

#234 Taking a shower under the rainspout at the cottage naked

(Kathryn Patterson)

#233 Finally letting that fart out you have been holding for the whole first date

(Charlie Rounwait)

#232 Driving around a parking lot looking for an open space and someone parked right in front of you leaves

#231 When you finally remember the words to the fastest part of a song

#230 Reading a whole book cover-to-cover in one big gulp

#229 Looking at the reflection of the moon on a lake at midnight when it’s quiet and all you hear are insects and waves

#228 Feeling your girlfriend squeezing your hand while watching a scary movie

#227 Walking into the classroom right as the bell rings

#226 The first swipe of the lip balm when there's still an edge and before it's smooth

#225 The feeling you get as soon as you get off a trampoline

#224 The sound of a metal bat hitting a baseball really hard

#223 Seeing an animal-crossing sign for a type of animal you’ve never seen on an animal-crossing sign

#222 Becoming friends with the crossing guard

#221 By accident cooking the pasta perfectly al dente

#220 When a song by your favorite band unexpectedly comes on in a public place

#219 Catching a pesky mosquito with one hand

#218 When the printer has the exact number of sheets of paper left for the thing you’re printing

#217 Watching little kids eat ice cream on a hot day

#216 Very slowly sliding your hand into a deep bag of flour

#215 Coming home from being at the beach all day and smelling like sun, sand, and lotion

#214 When the clothes you wore back in high school come back into style

#213 Shampoo mohawks

#212 When the word you spelled wrong by like five letters somehow gets fixed by autocorrect

#211 Eating pudding with a tiny spoon so it lasts longer

#210 Acing a test without studying

#209 The sound of the ice cream truck slowly getting louder and louder and louder

#208 The hilarious growl of a very tiny puppy attempting to be tough

#207 Crispy fried cheddar from the edge of the grilled cheese

#206 When the elevator for your apartment building goes directly from the parking level to your floor without stopping in the lobby

#205 Mastering chopsticks

#204 Watching little drops of rain race each other across your car window

#203 When the Zamboni drives over that last little snowy triangle on the rink

#202 Making sure nobody’s looking before scratching your armpit like a gorilla

#201 Getting up on the rooftop of a farmhouse and catching the full moon crest the horizon on a perfectly clear and calm night

#200 When you don’t have to spend two days cleaning the muffin tray because the muffins you baked came out of the baking tray in one piece

#199 Playing hide-and-go-seek outside in the dark near the end of the party

#198 Picking all the M&Ms out of the trail mix

#197 Being small enough to hide in a kitchen cupboard

#196 When that pothole you run over every day is finally filled in and smooth

#195 Short basketball players

#194 When there’s just enough milk in the carton for your morning cup of coffee

#193 When you open a can of cranberry sauce and it falls out in the shape of the can

#192 The soft insides of a brand new sweatshirt

#191 Humming the Rocky theme song whenever you’re running up a long flight of stairs

#190 Getting a foot rub without asking for one

#189 A ponytail or bun that stays perfectly composed without a single strand escaping

#188 Looking at the northern lights while lying in a wheat field

#187 That moment after you wake up and before your kids wake up

#186 Finding another roll of toilet paper sitting on the tank right behind you just when you need it

#185 Drinking out of a fancy glass with your pinky up in the air

#184 Feeling the pandemic slowly disappear from your mind

#183 Seeing the first hummingbird at the feeder

#182 Leaving your house really late and somehow still getting where you’re going on time

#181 When you’re on the elliptical at the gym and you and the person next to you suddenly start synchronizing your ‘ellipses’ and then you look at each other and smile

#180 Turning off the open sign at the end of a double shift

#179 When a newborn with its eyes closed suddenly grasps your baby finger with their hand

#178 Seeing the first double-decker tour bus driving through your town since the pandemic and waving at everyone as it rolls past

#177 When it’s your birthday on a school day and your name is on the announcements

#176 When you’re at a concert and the band is between songs and someone at the back yells out ‘FREEEEEBIRRRRD!!!’

#175 Finally getting that sneeze out that’s been stuck all day

#174 Peeling really sticky tape or that blue tacky stuff off your wall and not have any of your dorm room paint come off with it

#173 When someone finally suggests the perfect nickname for that old car you’ve been driving around forever

#172 Walking on a skinny curb pretending you’re on a tightrope

#171 When at the end of a really long week at college the lecturer comes in and asks everyone to take out a sheet of paper and write down a list of things you enjoy doing together with the last time you remember doing that thing and then suddenly lets everyone off two hours early to go do one of those things

#170 The first time you successfully climb up the tallest slide at the park

#169 A long awkward silence followed by everyone laughing

#168 When the bus driver lets you on the bus even though you forgot your ticket

#167 That one person who mixes all their flavors together at the soda fountain and insists to everyone back at the turny-chairs that it really does taste great

#166 When someone jumps into the song you’re singing and adds harmony

#165 Warm photocopies

#164 Smelling your favorite laundry detergent small on someone else’s shirt

#163 Celebrating your half-birthday

#162 When you’re in your seventies and you somehow run into your long-lost childhood best friend while traveling in another country

#161 When you finally confess to someone special that horrible thing about you and they don’t pull away

#160 Biking somewhere you were just about to drive

#159 When a butterfly lands on you

#158 Farting in the bathtub

#157 Finally finding underwear that is comfortable and fits you perfectly and deciding to just buy it forever

#156 Calling someone and it rings three times and you’re getting ready to leave a voicemail and then they suddenly pick up

#155 Successfully guessing your old password when logging into a website you haven’t used in years

#154 When the ‘delivered’ notification pops up under the text and you see the three dots pop up right away

#153 Sitting on the city bus in the high-occupancy lane while zooming past all the cars right beside you in a traffic jam

#152 Fingertip touching and extended eye contact when you both feel like you’re falling in love

#151 Finding a typo in a book

#150 Successfully guessing if that accent is Australian, British, or South African

#149 Finding that perfect spot to build your sandcastle with the ideal wet-dry sand consistency and yet still out of range of the waves

#148 Finding the candy drawer at your Grandma’s house

#147 The day that construction on that road near your house is finally finished

#146 Putting on hot jeans from the dryer without getting burnt by the metal buttons

#145 When the food you get at a fast food restaurant actually looks like the picture

#144 Expecting to pay for repairs on something before discovering it’s still under warranty

#143 Parking right beside a car that looks exactly like yours

#142 The feeling of wet grass on bare feet

#141 Eating the whole chocolate bar without anybody asking for some

#140 Successfully getting back into that good dream after waking up

#139 Hearing someone fart in their sleep

#138 Waking up with the dog snuggled up beside you

#137 Your mom rubbing your neck and shoulders when you were a kid

#136 When you yawn and it comes out high pitched and sounds like low budget opera

#135 Random cats that come when you call

#134 The look on someone’s face when they open the gift you’ve been waiting to give them

#133 Coming home and turning off all the lights and lighting candles and watching your favorite movie under a blanket

#132 When you walk into your friend’s house and it smells like cookies

#131 Animal voices in other countries sounding like they’re actually from that country

#130 Waking up early to a bird concert in your backyard

#129 Rolling somewhere really far in one of those office chairs with wheels

#128 Not wearing underwear and not telling anybody

#127 When your kid actually finishes their dinner

#126 A bunch more popcorn popping as you’re taking the bag out of the microwave

#125 Waking up on the morning you’re leaving for vacation

#124 Realizing you’ve found someone who really gets you

#123 Catching snowflakes on your tongue

#122 Tucking your daughter into bed and then she calls you back for one more hug and kiss

#121 When a stranger buys you a birthday shot

#120 When your boyfriend randomly pulls you close to him in the middle of the night

#119 Swinging really high on the swings and then jumping and savoring the two seconds of weightlessness

#118 Watching a movie you haven’t seen since you were a kid and finally getting all the references and innuendoes

#117 Missing the bus but then there’s another bus right after and it’s completely empty except for the driver

#116 Walking and the wind hits you just right so you get perfect movie star hair for a minute

#115 Making your connecting flight at the last possible second

#114 No longer listening to the sound of hands thrashing through LEGO bins all day due to the school year starting

#113 When you get home to the airport after being away a long time and your family and friends are waiting for you holding signs

#112 Not knowing how long to put something in the microwave and completely guessing and it’s the perfect temperature

#111 The smell of old yellow paper in old books

#110 When it’s late at a sleepover and everyone stops talking but then you cautiously whisper and everyone starts talking again

#109 Playing a song on piano you didn’t know you had memorized

#108 Finally seeing the trailer of that movie you’ve been waiting for

#107 Not seeing where your drive landed and when you walk up it’s on the green

#106 Playing with melted candle wax

#105 Getting all the sand out of your butt after swimming in the ocean

#104 Going to sleep on Sunday whenever Monday is a holiday

#103 Going up the down escalator

#102 Coloring in a thick coloring book with fresh crayons

#101 Winning at Monopoly with all the cheap spaces when the other person has useless Boardwalk

#100 Constantly feeling your hair after you get it cut really short

#99 That guy who takes off their jacket and gives it to you on a cold night

#98 Friends who offer to help you move

#97 Playing on a see-saw with your best friend and being able to balance without either of you touching the ground

#96 That one song that gets everyone on the dance floor

#95 When you reach the middle of a giant book and have two satisfying hunks of pages in both hands

#94 Picking up a person bigger than you underwater

#93 Old previews before old movies

#92 The smell of a carpet store

#91 Passing out as soon as your head hits the pillow

#90 When you are eating Tostitos “Hint of Lime” chips and you get one that definitely has more than a hint of lime

#89 Picking up a magnet with another magnet

#88 Kids from the next car making funny faces at you

#87 Ripping basil and smelling it

#86 Having an excuse to get all dressed up for the first time in a while

#85 Flipping a pancake or burger really high in the air

#84 Making a braid when your hair’s still wet and it being curly when you open it

#83 When it’s a really boring day at work and you realize there’s only ten minutes left

#82 Tearing out the soft white part of a fresh loaf of bread and rolling it into a really dense ball around a chunk of butter before eating it

#81 Randomly doing something nice for somebody you don’t know, who can’t pay you back, and not telling anyone about it

#80 Babies who laugh when grownups laugh even though they have no idea what’s going on

#79 The moment you figure out how to whistle

#78 Pushing your cafeteria tray down the metal rollers and suddenly a guy in a chef’s hat appears in front of you and dumps in a huge tray of fresh chicken fingers

#77 Picking the right screwdriver on the first try

#76 When you get new glasses and everyone says they look good

#75 Tearing a piece of paper out of a notebook along the perforation on the first try

#74 Talking to a friend so long the phone dies

#73 When they finally make the sequel of your favorite movie and it’s getting good reviews

#72 Kissing someone who’s just eaten a piece of candy

#71 Drawing with your fingernail on that thin gold foil on the top of the coffee can

#70 Getting an orange with no pits

#69 Big corner booths for small restaurant parties

#68 Folding the fitted sheet into an actual square

#67 When your hard sugary cereal pellets are soaked in milk long enough so the outside is dissolvably soft but the inside is still dry and crispy

#66 Destroying abandoned sand castles

#65 Laughing until your stomach hurts

#64 Hanging off your bed and looking at your room upside down

#63 Cuddling with someone new and you fit perfectly together

#62 Calling in sick on a nice summer day and bumping into your boss at the golf course

#61 Finding the perfect setting on a toaster

#60 Shaking boxes of macaroni like maracas

#59 Coming back from a trip and realizing your milk is still good

#58 Hugging your best friend and just before you let go they give a little extra squeeze

#57 Pancake dinners with friends at three in the morning

#56 Realizing you saved your work right before your computer crashed

#55 Running into old friends while having a good hair day

#54 Falling asleep somewhere you can hear waves

#53 The smack that splits open the piñata

#52 The sound of a wooden spoon stirring a really full pot of mac and cheese

#51 Shuffling a new deck of cards for the first time and feeling like you are introducing permanent chaos

#50 Riding a broomstick, mop, or otherwise non-equine instrument as a horse

#49 Little old men holding car doors for little old ladies

#48 Watching the snow plow come down your street

#47 When you pull into the gas station and they’re selling supreme for regular price because they ran out of regular

#46 Couples with names you accidentally flip like Benny and Jen or Licky and Riz

#45 Finally seeing your dog at Thanksgiving after being away at college

#44 When the batteries stop working but then you just take them out and put them back in and they work again

#43 Perfect over-medium eggs

#42 Exactly two slices of bread left when you want to make a sandwich

#41 Fries dipped in milkshake

#40 How tanned kids are at the end of the summer

#39 When your buddy accidentally sends you a text message intended for his girlfriend

#38 An empty seat on the subway at rush hour

#37 Unhyphenated words made from three words like nonetheless, whatsoever, and Newfoundland

#36 Finding the perfect sturdy branch to hold your heaviest Christmas tree ornament

#35 Alerting a frustrated driver to your spot just as you’re about to leave the packed lot

#34 Bells jingling above the old wooden door when you walk into the small town corner store

#33 When they close the doors on the plane and you realize the seat beside you is going to stay empty

#32 Going to the bathroom at work and feeling like you’re getting paid to go to the bathroom

#31 The moment on a long drive when you first see the mountains

#30 Listening to all the closures on the radio the morning of the snowstorm and finally hearing the name of your school

#29 Walking into the local fair with a pocketful of money

#28 Blowing the paper off a straw

#27 When you mention an item you have been wanting and your relative says “I have one of those you can have!”

#26 Hot tea running down a sore throat

#25 When you have long hair and you get in a lake and slowly put your head backwards up to the roots and swish it around like you have a bunch of slow-motion seaweed on your head

#24 Bartenders who remember what you’re drinking

#23 Writing with new chalk on a clean chalkboard

#22 The dimples on the back of a chubby baby’s arms

#21 When your boyfriend walks into a crowded party and you see them at the door scanning the room looking for you

#20 Taking pictures with an old-school disposable camera so you can’t cheat and delete the bad ones

#19 Killing the mosquito after it lands but before it stabs

#18 Pulling a carrot out of your garden and eating it right immediately while darting your eyes around to make sure the farmer isn’t coming

#17 Late at night lying in bed finally hearing your bedroom door open and your daughter saying “I’m home dad, I love you”

#16 The sound of driving on gravel

#15 Laughing to yourself when your kids tell you raising kids is a lot harder than they thought

#14 Getting to open a present on Christmas Eve

#13 Working off all that exercise with some chocolate

#12 Things that are literally squeaky clean

#11 Getting all the Christmas decorations put away and the house back to normal

#10 People that tell it like it is

#9 Seeing a shooting star

#8 Finding a good chunk of the good stuff right near the bottom of that carton of ice cream

#7 Overtime in game seven

#6 Sliding down the stairs in a box

#5 When a good song comes on in the van and everyone suddenly sings at the top of their lungs

#4 Making out

#3 Actually laughing out loud when you’re by yourself

#2 Being read to

#1 Reading every single item in a really long list

#1000 When you finally figure out how to record and send a voice memo again after they sent this stupid new update to your phone

#999 Rushing out of the shower and getting your idea down on the nearest piece of paper before you forget it

(Geoff Menegay)

#998 Sliding your finger around the mixing bowl to get the last wet and clumpy bits of cookie dough

(Marian Engelbrecht)

#997 Crunching through the woods at night and seeing all the endless stars

(Barbara Anne)

#996 When you meet someone from the same country as you in another country

(Sarah Mackinnon)

#995 When the curds on your poutine have the perfect amount of squeak

(Erika Grows)

#994 When you pick up your car at the garage and the repair bill is less than the estimate

(Kathy Riley Groft)

#993 A dog's snow beard after romping outside

(Rachel Hartman Miller)

#992 Getting married for the first time at age 52

(Laurie Woodall)

#991 Hoarfrost on the trees in the morning against a beautiful pink sky

(Michele Gilcrest Brown)

#990 Being asked to be a guest on my daughter’s podcast

(Shelly Nastor)

#989 The moment your mindset changes from being sad a vacation ends to being excited to go home

(Melissa Birtch)

#988 Having my mini crockpot heat up delicious baked potato soup while I'm teaching

(Megan Eskew)

#987 Taking piano lessons with your 9-year-old daughter

(Danielle O’Sullivan)

#986 Getting all that gunk out from under your toenails 

#985 Somebody playing with your hair

#984 A cold fizzy drink when your mouth is bored of the room temp water in your reusable bottle

(Jennifer Durley)

#983 When a lot of flights at the airport are cancelled but somehow yours isn’t one of them

#982 When you have been overstimulated all day but need to get your hair cut and your stylist notices and lets you sit in glorious, comfortable silence

(Cassie Raiston Pence)

#981 Saying yes whenever you’re asked if you want cheese and bacon

#980 When the river is so smooth it reflects the surrounding snow-dusted hills

(Beth Talbot Ramsey)

#979 Slipping on an old pair of shoes that you’ve worn so much they are a perfect mold of your foot

#978 When you manage to catch yourself just before falling into too much scrolling through social media

(Ayla Berry)

#977 Feeling snowflakes on your eyelashes

#976 Looking at your calendar on Thursday night and realizing you have no meetings on Friday afternoon

#975 Putting your car in neutral while going down a long, steep, straight hill and making it all the way up the next hill

#974 Straightening your legs after they’ve been bent for a while

#973 Watching a slow sunset from an airplane window

#972 Finding out one of your favorite authors has a new book coming out

(Shanna Keller Pollan)

#971 Getting picked up by a hot car on a cold night

#970 Getting the thin crispy pizza crust toasted just right

(Patricia Scott)

#969 Watching a jumbo jet land on its tiny wheels

#968 A friendly dog running up and dropping their ball at your feet for you to throw

(Daria Lamborne)

#967 Getting into bed with a clean body and clean pajamas and clean sheets

#966 The sound of laughter filling the office at the end of the work day

(Heather Morse)

#965 Noticing that it’s staying light outside a little longer each day

(Alicia Stetler)

#964 Cracking your back with the desk chairs at school

#963 Grandpa asking “You gonna finish that?” as soon as you’re served your dessert

(Jes Robertson)

#962 Forming a team with the spiders to take out the flies

#961 Feeling a tense muscle relax during a massage

(Megan Eskew)

#960 Eating a great meal alone at a bar

#959 When the new peanut butter has a peanut sitting on top

#958 Making tidal waves in the bathtub by sliding back and forth

#957 Successfully finding the backup toilet paper in somebody else’s bathroom

#956 The smell of the spice cabinet

#955 Photobooth pictures

#954 Wearing some kind of birthday hat or sash out in public and everyone keeps coming up and wishing you a happy birthday

#953 When you’re the only people in the movie theater so you can be as loud as you want

#952 The first time you don’t stall out when driving stick

#951 Art made out of things that were never intended to be art

#950 Spelling a word correctly when you were really just guessing

#949 Staying in to save money when all your friends go out but then finding out the next day the night was lame and you didn’t miss anything

#948 Opening your passport to see what the stamp looks like right after it gets stamped

#947 When you’re watching Jeopardy and you yell out the answer before any contestant pushes their buzzer

#946 When the heater comes on just when you noticed you were cold

- Angee Draper

#945 Stomping a really deep puddle

#944 Everybody crowding around the kitchen table as mom flips open a slippery envelope full of freshly printed photos that are still warm

#943 Someone telling you that you smell good

#942 When an entire neighborhood comes together to find someone's lost dog

#941 The warm spot at the bottom of your glass of sweet tea because it’s so fresh the ice hasn’t had time to cool it yet

#940 When that annoyingly loud cricket that keeps you up at night finally shuts up

#939 Knowing you’re going to finish the juice so drinking it right from the carton

#938 Finally getting your hair to go the way you want it to

#937 First pickle out of the jar

#936 Successfully making something as good as your mom used to make it

#935 No line at customs

#934 Taking a sauna while listening to Leonard Cohen after a great workout

(Kathleen Monaghan)

#933 Sitting in my office listening to my co-workers sing along to the radio

(Kalina Seifried)

#932 Putting your foot on the drain in the shower so it partially fills up with water and keeps your feet warm

#931 Getting multiple *pops* from a single bubblegum bubble

(Cassondra Boutilie)

#930 Drinking that leftover soda somebody left in the fridge and it’s still bubbly

#929 Watching the steam rise off a freshly poured cup of tea

(Kassia James)

#928 Opening day at the ballpark

#927 Flipping both over-easy eggs onto the plate without breaking the yolks

(Thea Goldin Smith)

#926 When the weather is finally getting warmer and you start seeing all the dogs hanging out of the car windows again

(Jen German)

#925 When your daughter puts mendhi on you for Navroz

(Al-Karim Walli)

#924 Hearing the first red-winged blackbird call of the spring

#923 Finding a really good book for like fifty cents at a used clothing store

#922 Watching squirrels chase each other up and down the trees

#921 Finding a drawing in your lunch bag from your son

(Holly Renouf)

#920 Finding an antihistamine in your purse after an unexpected allergy morning

(Christina Forsyth)

#919 When your very timid foster cat feels brave enough to come out and eat something while you’re nearby

(Jenn Hubbs)

#918 When all those traits labelled ‘annoying’ or ‘not suitable for the workplace’ at your last employer are actually embraced at your current employer

(Jody Watson)

#917 Surgically removing only the double-dusted Doritos for consumption

(Jes Robertson)

#916 Got your motorcycle running again after changing the battery yourself

(Lynne Thijssen)

#915 Taking a shower after a hard morning of digging, mowing, and planting in your yard

#914 One of those spring rains when the sky is gray and everything on the ground almost neon green

#913 Squeezing your elbow with all its wrinkles and weird soft tissue stuff and bony knobs

#912 Peeing in a forest

#911 Seeing the neighborhood bunny back in your backyard after a long cold winter

#910 Shaving your legs for the first time in a while

(Leslie Richardson)

#909 The first day at the park when all the tennis courts are busy

#908 When everyone suddenly starts wearing skimpier clothes

#907 Finally putting all that crap that’s been building up in your house at the curb

#906 People who use really, really old cell phones

#905 Driving 300 miles to surprise your best friend of 42 years on her milestone birthday

(Karen Wiater Murphy)

#904 Buying a book with cash from an independent bookstore

#903 Warm donuts

#902 When your rent didn’t get raised this year

(Glenna Gill)

#901 Buying a deeply discounted dying plant and nursing it back to health

(Rachel Miller)

#900 Fist bumps from a 1-year-old

#899 Using any software on your computer that doesn’t require updates

#898 Getting to watch your favorite movie as a kid with your kid

#897 Triggering the advanced green at the intersection by staying back

(Sylvia Emmorey)

#896 Finding an ‘extra’ peanut butter cup in the bottom of the crumpled empty-looking package

(Chelsea Perry)

#895 Not updating the old memory-laden profile picture you have in your phone for your friend even when the phone keeps trying to get you to

#894 Getting to know the other regulars down at the library

#893 When the person you give your phone to takes 1 really good picture of your group instead of 37 not-bad ones with various eyes closed and feet cut off

#892 Getting the clothes off the line just before it rains

(Elizabeth Poppe)

#891 Walking past the chain store to support the local guy

#890 Homemade strawberry freezer jam with cream cheese on a cracker

(Megan Wrinkle)

#889 Video game muscle memory

#888 Finding the oldest restaurant in your hometown and deciding to go there more often so it gets even older

#887 When your teenager tells you her friends think you are a cool mom

#886 When a House Wren starts building a nest in your new birdhouse

(Emily Martins)

#885 When your son empties the dishwasher without asking

(Anne Elliott-Flockhart)

#884 When you go to get your hair cut and you accidentally show up at the wrong time but they squeeze you in anyway

(An Richardson)

#883 Finding a bag of avocados at the store where every single avocado is perfectly ripe

(Kathryn Vilela)

#882 The parade of hummingbirds after filling the feeder

(Joanne Maclaren)

#881 Perfectly cutting the birthday cake so everyone gets a same-sized slice and there’s none left over

(Stephanie Camille Kennerson)

#880 When you call your friend and they answer by saying “I was just thinking about you”

#879 Waking up in the middle of the night and discovering your cat sleeping beside you

(Gina Buonaguro)

#878 When you’re the lone car stuck at a long light and someone walking by presses the ‘Walk’ button to trigger the light and smiles and waves at you

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#877 Turning the vent on an electric hand dryer upwards and blasting your face

#876 Stepping barefoot on a freshly laundered bath mat

(Jennifer Cox)

#875 When you’re in a public bathroom and there’s no toilet paper but then you find a Kleenex in your pocket

(An Richardson)

#874 Trying out a new word in a sentence and then right after someone says “Oooooo, nice word”

#873 When your 95-year-old neighbor is sitting on her front porch playing hymns on her harmonica

(Christina Forsyth)

#872 Plugging a new appliance in and it works without anybody reading the instructions

(Barbara Fanson)

#871 When your boss surprises you with a caramel macchiato

(Susan Plattner)

#870 The moment at the ballpark when you first see the bright field at the end of the dark tunnel

#869 Finding a pistachio in the bag that’s already shelled

(Jenny Norush)

#868 When the boss tells everyone go home early because it’s really nice out

#867 A toddler handing you a book and climbing into your lap

#866 Catching your first scent of lilacs of the season

(Cassondra Boutilier)

#865 Pulling out a frozen leftover meal from the freezer that you forgot you even made

#864 Scrolling back to a random year in your camera roll and then sending your partner a really old photo of the two of you

#863 When your really long walk takes exactly one really long chapter of the audiobook

#862 Eating homemade ice cream before lunch

(Denise Turgeon)

#861 Driving your car past a cyclist who is using correct hand signals to make turns

(Erin Rakita)

#860 That one diagonal street running through the city grid

#859 Seeing a pothole at the last second and then steering just slightly so it goes between your wheels

#858 Picking up discarded masks on the trail behind the hospital and bumping into somebody else doing the same thing

(Katherine Stredinyn)

#857 When the leftovers from dinner don’t quite fit in the container so you have no choice but to eat the surplus

(Jes Robertson)

#856 When there’s a lineup at the lemonade stand on your street

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#855 Lining up the edges of your bagel perfectly again after cutting and toasting it

(Debbie Walsh)

#854 First hammock nap of the season

(Alisa MacBride Smith)

#853 Digging your feet into the cool part of the sand

(Rebecca Warren)

#852 The big acceleration at the end of the traffic jam

#851 When you get to the pool during public swimming hours and there’s a whole lane open

#850 The first popsicle of the summer

#849 Getting a snow cone at the school picnic

(My son (age 4))

#848 Swirling around in circles on a noodle in a lake

(Lori Vickery)

#847 When a deer calmly walks across the woodland path in front of you on your lunchtime walk

(Anne Elliott-Flockhart)

#846 The smell of that leftover hot afternoon air-conditioning blasting through your vents for three seconds after you turn on your car at night

#845 Seeing photos from your high school friends of their kids graduating from high school

(Chris Mc)

#844 When you’re packing and a whole bunch of books and board games fit into the box like a perfect Tetris

(Amanda Berry)

#842 Watching the ants open a peony bloom

(Becky)

#841 Crossing guards who dance and blow their whistle a lot

#840 When you look at your cat and say “meow” and they meow back

(Maria-Christina Pattichis)

#839 That one person confidently sunbathing on the little patch of grass between downtown highrises at lunch on a Tuesday

#838 Perfectly trimming your beard to that exact just perfect in-between length

#837 Confidently being the one person wearing a mask on this airplane where nobody else is wearing a mask

#836 When the last cherry in the bowl is really dark and hard and sweet

#835 Unofficial dog parks that everybody is just cool with because all the owners are always kind and respectful  

#834 Treating yourself to a new bathing suit for the summer

#833 Seeing your daughter scanning the crowd from the stage at her dance recital and then flashing a huge smile and waving her arms when she sees you

(Al-Karim Walli)

#832 When the little bookstore by the park is packed in the middle of the day

#831 When your favorite person is on your favorite podcast

#830 The first bounce after inflating the basketball

#829 Texting a friend in a faraway city while you are both watching the live game on TV

#828 Successfully wearing your running shoes until they literally fall apart

#827 Seeing a robin happily having a bath in the pothole in the parking lot

(Jes Ann)

#826 The last sip of the latte that’s almost entirely foam

#825 The first boat ride of the summer

#824 The moment after taking a big spill on the sidewalk when you realize you didn’t break anything

(Connie Crowe)

#823 Turning off your phone and plugging it in the basement when you get home so you can play with your kids

#822 Scoring the last table at the coffee shop

#821 Successfully using a tailor or cobbler instead of just throwing it out

#820 Everybody walking around in short shorts, tank tops, and giant sunglasses on the hottest day of the year

#819 When the first size you try on fits

#818 Hearing a song from when you were a teenager and remembering all the people in your life that made it special

(Heather Reid)

#817 Two tiny anthills on your front porch where your three-year-old dumped out his shoes

#816 Cargo bikes full of little kids

#815 The smell of gravel, farm fields, and greasy fries from the chip truck on this two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere

#814 When your teens unexpectedly snuggle in bed with you and you stay up way too late chatting because you don't want the moment to end

(Gina Buonaguro)

#813 Changing your sheets before you go away so you can come back to clean sheets

(Anita Maree)

#812 Little kids running out their door in PJs and bare feet to tell you about their sidewalk chalk drawings when you walk by their house at seven in the morning

(Katie Boyle Roberts)

#811 Getting a coffee with the chiropractor you've been seeing for 30 years and finally sharing life stories

(Chandler Bainter)

#810 A good long rain after weeks of dry weather

(Theresa Lynn)

#809 Laying on warm concrete after playing in the pool/ocean/sprinkler

(Debbie Matlow)

#808 A strong wind through a tall willow

#807 When you’re parked at a red light at a busy intersection and a guy in bare feet starts stumbling across the street and then a middle-aged woman in a business suit crossing quickly puts her arm around him and helps him to the other side before patting him, smiling, and walking away

#806 The bouquet of fresh flowers on the counter at the local bookstore

#805 When you wear that outfit you just bought and everyone’s like hey love the new outfit

#804 When someone walks up and starts playing that public piano

(Daphne Arlotto)

#803 When your three-year-old daughter interrupts you to quietly whisper ‘I love you’

(Sarah Vaz Mehalic)

#802 Taking that virtual meeting in the backyard while the dog rolls around in the grass

(Miriam Gross)

#801 Having a kitten fall asleep in your arms

(Gordon and Catherine)

#800 When the lake is completely freezing but there’s no doubt we’re all jumping in

#799 Spitting cherry pits really far

#798 When the expiry date on the milk says your birthday

(Toby Canon)

#797 Meeting someone as weird as you

(Maria-Christina Pattichis)

#796 Your divorced parents enjoying each other’s company for the first time since being apart

(Karla Brazeau Creed)

#795 When those test results you were waiting for come back negative

#794 Finding free parking downtown

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#793 When the airplane’s shadow zips right over you

(Amanda Berry)

#792 Successfully peeing through the toilet seat without lifting it up and nobody ever finds out

(Maria-Christina Pattichis)

#791 When they renovate that park near your house and suddenly there’s more swings and a ping-pong table

#790 Pretending to use ‘The Force’ when approaching an automatic sliding door

#789 Going to the library and finding a new book by your favorite author

#788 The way your teeth feel after being cleaned at the dentist

#787 Hearing (and importantly NOT SEEING) the first cicada of the summer

(Jennifer Durley)

#786 Seeing my daughter step off the bus after being away at camp for two weeks

(Kristen Upton)

#785 Pollen-covered bees

(Jessie Ann)

#784 When there’s no lineup at the post office

#783 A train of flight attendants speed-walking past you at the airport wearing bright pink uniforms with pink silk scarves and pink hats

#782 Seeing a family of red-headed woodpeckers on the trees in the backyard

(Becky Martin)

#781 Riding your bike over tar bubbles on the road and listening to it crackle

(Tamara Grindley)

#780 Sleeping through the night for the first time after getting a puppy

(Alyse DeVries)

#779 Your son texting you telling you he just got a job

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#778 Jumping into a cold creek during a hot hike

#777 Peeking through the graffiti-covered plywood and watching cranes, dump trucks, and cement mixers moving around together with a dozen construction workers like some kind of heavy machinery ballet

#776 Using a hot spoon straight out of the dishwasher to scoop ice cream

#775 Successfully depositing a piece of garbage in that sticky, overflowing, wasp-surrounded garbage can in the park without actually touching the garbage can

#774 Sandal tanlines

#773 Baristas who take their sweet time painting a heart on the top of your drink before handing it to you

#772 When you recommend your favorite restaurant to a friend from out of town and they go and they love it

(Laura Lambert)

#771 Moving sleeping kids with sandy feet directly from the car to the bed at the end of a beautiful sun-soaked day at the beach

(Meagan Dalby)

#770 Seeing a monarch butterfly land on the milkweed you just planted for them

(Gail Simpson)

#769 Sitting in your backyard excitedly waiting for guests and then suddenly hearing the sound of your creaky side gate opening

#768 Hearing the *ding* from the room right after sending your husband a meme you know he’s going to love

(Elizabeth Poppe)

#767 Getting to the subway platform right at the same time as the train on the way to school and on the way home

(Sarah Hallett)

#766 When you’re standing on your tippy-toes trying to reach an item from the top shelf of the grocery store and the customer beside you reaches up and hands it to you with a smile

(Megan Amos)

#765 Driving through yellow canola fields against blue skies in Saskatchewan

(Colleen Isley)

#764 Stumbling on a patch of fresh wild blueberries or raspberries in the middle of a forest

#763 Hearing a chickadee calling closer and closer and closer and feeling like it’s a friend swinging by to say hello

#762 Your flight taking off just before the thunderstorm rolls in

(Rachel Hartman Miller)

#761 When that formerly standoffish cat starts sitting and purring in your lap

(Melanie Stoughton)

#760 That fresh pine scent on an early hike after a rainy night

(Art Sheridan)

#759 Waiting at a green light for a Mom and her young son to run and catch my bus

(Cynthia Larkin-Clinton)

#758 Buying a huge head of lettuce at the local market and bringing it home and immediately making a delicious salad

(Barbara Anne)

#757 Seeing a wet floor warning sign and smelling bleach when walking into the ladies’ restroom at a roadside gas station

(Lori Cline)

#756 No line at the border coming home from the USA

(Marie-Helen Goyetche)

#755 Renting a wheelchair-accessible van to take my husband sightseeing

(Barbara Fanson)

#754 Coming up behind a slow-moving vehicle right where the dotted lines start and there’s no oncoming traffic

(Christine Chase Harland)

#753 Counting cyclists with your kid on the way to day camp and talking about how each one reduces traffic and pollution

(Graeme Drinkwalter)

#752 The sound of your husband stirring your tea before you even get out of bed in the morning

(Ramona Fernandes)

#751 Going to the grocery store for three items and all three are on sale

(Paula Sullivan)

#750 When you go to the movies and there’s one of those metal bars in front of your seats that’s low enough to avoid blocking the view but high enough to put your feet on

(Inne De Vos)

#749 Meeting someone with the same first name as you especially when you share a unique spelling

(Kerri Schlimmer Moccio)

#748 Sun glinting off the water at sunset

(Meagan Dalby)

#747 Getting fist bumps from people you don’t know at the gym

(Jennifer Coleman)

#746 Seeing a tiny dog walking proudly with a huge stick in its mouth

(Karleen Haché)

#745 Kayaking on the river and seeing egrets hanging out in the trees

(Karen Danchalski)

#744 Going past a horse and buggy clopping along the road in Amish/Mennonite areas

(Gina Buonaguro)

#743 Watching your nine-year-old saddle a horse and ride off with her friends

#742 Accidentally releasing a cloud of tiny bubbles from the dishwashing liquid bottle

(Imelda Maguire)

#741 Making a tasty Greek salad using only vegetables from your garden

(Marie Fontaine)

#740 Seeing moose graze in the lake

(Ann Reed Jones)

#739 Finishing an ebook the same day the next one you have on hold becomes available

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#738 The sound of the camper settling smoothly on the hitch of your truck

(Kat Maggrah)

#737 When your favorite childhood movie finally gets added to the streaming site

(Rachel Lambert)

#736 Poking at a campfire with a stick

(Rachel Hartman Miller)

#735 Listening to acorns land with a crisp knock as they fall from the trees

(Korene Torney)

#734 When you and your cat suddenly turn and slow-blink at each other

(Paul L Oswald)

#733 When you’re at that temperature after the air conditioners have turned off and before the furnaces haven’t turned on and all you can hear after dark is the crickets

(Susan Drake)

#732 Watching birds play in puddles after a rain

(Barbara Fanson)

#731 When your family gets the hotel pool all to yourselves for an hour

(Michele Wallace)

#730 Falling asleep in the chair on your porch

#729 Seeing a kitten gain weight after consistently syringe feeding

(Terese Jones-Anders)

#728 Riding your bike on a quiet road at sunrise

(Alana Gueutal)

#727 Buying yourself flowers at the farmers market

(Susan Williams)

#726 When the boss starts the meeting by saying “I actually don’t think we need this meeting.”

#725 Making a U-turn and parallel parking in one majestic move right in the middle of the busy downtown street

(Debbie Walsh)

#724 Yogurt with fresh peaches and granola

(Shelly Nastor)

#723 The smell of freshly baked bagels just out of the oven at the local bakery

(Tracey Adams)

#722 Hearing the lids “pop” after canning ten pints of salsa yesterday

(Becky Fox)

#721 When your homegrown tomatoes ripen to perfection on the window ledge

(Melanie Jones Ruigrok)

#720 Figuring out public transit in a foreign city

(Meagan Dalby)

#719 When your adult son calls and wants to meet for lunch

(Chandler Bainter)

#718 Eating the bag of peanut butter pretzels all the way down to the bounty of crustless peanut butter innards at the bottom

(Betsy Kenney)

#717 Getting the skunk out of the chicken coop without being sprayed

(Melissa Olsen)

#716 Seeing the very elderly man on your walk every morning and then not seeing him for a while and then suddenly seeing him again

(Jill Hearne)

#715 Falling asleep in yoga class

(Alana Gueutal)

#714 Slipping into new slippers

(Janice Davis)

#713 When servers all come out singing happy birthday to a customer and the whole restaurant joins in

(Katie Taylor)

#712 When your kid does their homework without you having to nag them

(Michele Wallace)

#711 Homemade banana bread with peanut butter on it, a steaming cup of hot coffee, and a great view out the window

(Elizabeth MacDonald-Pratt)

#710 When the last berry in the bowl is also the sweetest

(Sylvia Emmorey)

#709 Packing up the old house and finding a stack of old greeting cards your mother-in-law received when your husband was born

(Karen Lise Andersen)

#708 Getting home right before the downpour begins

(Jessica H. Robinson)

#707 Dirty fingernails after working in the garden

(Deb Schick)

#706 Finally eating after a mandatory 24-hour fast

(Daphne Arlotto)

#705 Seeing a grown man in the grocery store parking lot running with his shopping cart and then jumping on to ride

(Genevieve Borne Bates)

#704 Feeling your heart and mind swelling at the end of a beautiful story that you sense will stay with you for a long time

(Monica Almas)

#703 Red peppers ripe enough to roast and can

(Becky Fox)

#702 When the first flight to start your vacation leaves on time

(Michelle Martinez Etter)

#701 When your microwave bulb goes out for the first time in years and you go to the basement and discover you have a spare

(Lindsay Watters)

#700 Seeing the sunrise and sunset on the same day

(Colleen Dailey Jogan)

#699 When you make your spouse laugh so hard they fart a little

(Chandler Bainter)

#698 That moment late at night at the party when the whole thing moves to the kitchen

#697 The sound of leaves falling

(Lyn Banton)

#696 People whose houses you wear your slippers in

#695 When you know nothing about the film you’re about to watch and it turns out to be a wonderful surprise

(Wagner Moura)

#694 A comfy couch at the back of the bookstore

#693 When the loud GPS directions come on perfectly between songs like some kind of robotic radio DJ

(James Gizzard)

#692 Going out to buy jeans and the first pair you grab miraculously fits

(Barbara Anne)

#691 Leaf stains on the sidewalk

(Sylvia Emory)

#690 When your dog poops right beside a garbage can so you don’t have to walk around all morning holding a poop bag

(Jenny Brown)

#689 Finally breathing out of both nostrils after a bad cold

(Jenn Hubbs)

#688 Everyone coming over and no one looking at their phones

#687 Thinking “Oh, that happened to a friend of mine!” and then later realizing the friend was a character in a book

(Jane Dewar)

#686 Two four-day weeks in a row

(Shelly Nastor)

#685 Printing out an essay you’ve been working on for weeks

#684 When a little kid gives you a rock

(Katrina Trautwein)

#683 When you really need to water your garden and then it rains

(Hailey Hitchiner)

#682 The moment you realize you‘ve been somewhere enough times you don't need GPS anymore

(Heather Morse)

#681 Throwing a piece of trash across your office and getting it in on the first try

(Alana Gueutal)

#680 When the truck behind you in traffic turns off their headlights so they're not blinding you

(Shelly Meier)

#679 The smell of the cedar in the sauna

#678 When the washer and dryer finish at the same time

(Amanda Berry)

#677 Putting on comfy pajama pants after a long work day

(Rebecca Fayed)

#676 Coming in from a cold rainy day and immediately having a hot shower

(Stephanie Wright Deschenes)

#675 Teaching little kids how to dry their hands on their pants

#674 Picturing the passionate, fun, fiery conversation you might have with the person driving in front of you with like ten or more bumper stickers on their car

#673 Watching the cardinals change color

#672 Loving a band for over twenty years and finally seeing them in concert

(Becky Martin)

#671 Moving into a new apartment and finally memorizing what cupboards have what dishes in them

(Hannah Rose)

#670 When someone asks you to flex and then you do and then they squeeze your bicep and go “Whoa … nice.”

#669 The look of anticipation in someone’s eyes before you kiss them for the first time

(Lauren)

#668 When there’s miraculously no wait at the walk-in clinic

(Misha Novak)

#667 The fresh bounce of brand new running shoes

#666 Getting to look out the big window right at the front of the tour bus

(Linda Van Leeuwen)

#665 Waking up to trees covered in the first snow of the season

(Shelly Nastor)

#664 Stepping into a house that’s completely dark except for the Christmas tree lights

#663 When the online gift you ordered shows up and actually looks like it did in the picture

(Gail Simpson)

#662 When your favorite Christmas carol comes on while shopping in an uncrowded store

(Ramona Fernandes)

#660 Dramatically jumping into a giant snowbank after your five-year-old pegs you in the back with a snowball

#659 Steering your kids away from new last-minute present requests by telling them Santa’s sleigh is packed

#658 That perfect forkful of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, beans, and gravy

#657 Playing a long board game with your family and nobody quits halfway

#656 Listening to the ice crackling as the lake freezes over

(Shelly Nastor)

#655 The smell of a doll’s head

(Leslie Richardson)

#654 Setting your personal record for longest beard you’ve grown and getting a crazy amount of compliments

#653 Successfully managing to use only two vacation days to get a week off work

#652 Deciding to go to bed on New Year’s Eve whenever you feel like it

#651 Skating on an outdoor pond

(Nicole McLean)

#650 Feeling inspired by the 94-year-old on the treadmill beside you at the gym

(Jo-Anne Guimond)

#649 Watching cardinals dart through snowy trees

(Barbara Anne)

#648 When your boss books the same vacation days as you so you know there’ll be nothing waiting from them when you get back

#647 When your kid hands you the rest of his ring pop

(Daphne Arlotto)

#646 Hearing your teenagers giggling in the backseat of the car instead of yelling

(Becky Martin)

#645 Satisfying sweat drops falling on your phone after a workout

#644 When you finally finish grading a huge stack of essays

(Tammy Burke)

#643 Working from home on the couch next to your snoring dog on a rainy day

(Lori Allen Palmer)

#642 When one of your students calls them Ramen Numerals

(Lori Gummer)

#641 When your kid who always pees their pants manages to make a slight improvement and pee on the floor

#640 Getting to your sister’s place and she says “We’ve got the hot tub ready and waiting!”

#639 Walking into the hardware store and smelling the new seasonal bouquet with strong notes of snow brushes, ice choppers, and shovels

#638 A steaming cup of miso soup on a wet and slushy day

#637 Asking a total stranger to take a picture of you and your friends and they suddenly crouch down and tilt the phone a few ways to get the perfect angle and framing

#636 When you go to the pharmacy for a refill and they say “It’ll be ready in five minutes.”

#635 When your kid hits the age where you can teach them to safely jaywalk

#634 Finally learning the name of the guy stocking shelves at the corner drugstore

#633 Finding a new author you love and discovering they have an enormous backlist

(Janice McClure Schroeder)

#632 Your kid moving to a smaller car seat so your mother-in-law can wedge herself into the back row of the van again

#631 The feeling of freedom getting your cast cut off after having it on your arm for four weeks

(Brie Mazzarelli)

#630 When in the span of ten minutes the rain you’re walking in turns to wet-globs then slush-flakes then flurries and then you get home and your kids all have their faces pressed against the windows

#629 When you run to the corner store for some random weird battery you haven’t needed in years and they have precisely one left in stock

#628 Letting your kids pick out a bunch of neon nail polishes and then going home and everyone painting their toenails

#627 Setting a new personal best for how high you got your car’s odometer

#626 When there are only four people at the walk-in clinic so everybody gets their own entire row of ripped vinyl blue chairs

#625 Hanging out with someone with the exact same level of political incorrectness as you

#624 Finally zipping closed a way-too-stuffed suitcase which ten minutes ago looked like it had absolutely zero chance

#623 A minivan driving by with the theme song of some terrible 3-year-old TV show blaring out the windows and you look over and the mom is singing along in the driver’s seat

#622 Skipping showering again to give yesterday’s great hair day another chance and it totally works

#621 Seeing a huge shadow of wings fly over you and looking up and seeing an owl perched on the streetlight

(Meghan Wagner)

#620 Tight cream turtleneck tucked into crisp blue jeans with a brown belt

#619 The satisfyingly-perfect mathematical griddiness of a crisp floor-to-ceiling grocery store display of frozen fish sticks and chicken fingers

#618 Reaching out to fight for a friendship you love when it suddenly feels like it’s even-a-little-bit withering away and your friend responds with a giant thank you because they had the same feeling and don’t want it withering away either

#617 Noticing that the couple next to you at the coffee shop is on a first date that seems to be going really well

#616 That slow serpentine swivel of a satisfying mop

#615 Noticing the online packaging of this thing you’ve been ordering forever is suddenly way smaller and better for the environment

#614 Seeing a stranger reading one of your favorite books and realizing you’re seeing a book recommending a person

#613 Hitting the nod-and-smile-in-recognition point with a person you often pass on your way to work

(Alexis Eizinas)

#612 Achieving an empty inbox

(Alyse DeVries)

#611 When your in-laws come to town with large tins of homemade flavored popcorn

(Chandler Bainter)

#610 Having a secret handshake with your 23-year-old

(Shauna Guilfoyle)

#609 Smelling your armpits at the end of a long day and you don’t stink

#608 When you’re all alone in a foreign country and you get Covid and your apartment rental host goes to the pharmacy for you and leaves the package outside your door

(Fabiola Lola Cox)

#607 Forgetting your phone and not missing it

(Denise Turgeon)

#606 Switching to a new retail job and getting promoted from seasonal to part-time to full-time to manager in eight months

(Tamsyn Clark Medina)

#605 Watching the wild, ferocious play-fighting between two 7-week-old kittens

(Vicky Hall)

#604 Successfully making your first batch of perogies using your great-grandmother’s recipe with all the notes in the margin from your mother

(Anastasia Diakow-Vidmar)

#603 Getting a fresh haircut and running your fingers through it to feel that phantom hair-used-to-be-there feeling

(Angela McKain)

#602 When your flight leaves on time and lands on time

(Jennifer Stewart)

#601 Scoring a free glute massage on that rounded brass handrail thingy in the empty hotel elevator

#600 When you walk into the corner convenience store and you are the first one to get coffee from the fresh pot

(Jennifer O'Hara Herrick)

#599 Reading the same book as your 11-year-old son and then seeing the movie together and then having a great conversation on the drive home about what you liked and what you didn’t and why

(Karleen Haché)

#598 When the apartment you rented online is as good as the photos

(Meagan Dalby)

#597 Figuring out some way to get rid of that annoying squeak your running shoes randomly picked up last week

#596 Standing in a meadow as the snow falls and hearing an invisible flock of geese chatter overhead as they fly to a new field

(Anitta Staats)

#595 Cutting the honeydew melon open and it’s at perfect peak ripeness

#594 When the audiobook is read by the author

(Meagan Dalby)

#593 Nailing the absolute perfect wasabi to soy sauce ratio

#592 When your car starts after sitting overnight in -50C/-58F

(Karly Luca)

#591 Being the first person to drive through the giant frozen-over puddles on the driveway out of your apartment complex

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#590 The light just before dawn making the snowy yard blue

(Sarah Kite Schwarzkopf)

#589 When your son uses the new recipe book you got him for Christmas, sources all the ingredients himself, and makes a great dinner for the whole family

(Debbie Walsh)

#588 Seeing a mom with black, windswept hair ride by you on a violet bicycle with twins in brown fleece balaclavas on the back

#587 Giving your Uber driver a cash tip at the end of a great trip

#586 Wiping a very satisfying amount of snow off your skate blades

#585 The first jacketless day of the year

#584 Having just enough beans in the bag for one last Friday coffee

(Jessica Lynn Shoemaker)

#583 When the whole outer onion skin comes off without using a knife

(Debbie Walsh)

#582 When you send your partner a GIF in the middle of the day that only the two of you would understand and they immediately LOL

#581 When it's so quiet all you hear are your pets snoring

(Paula Sullivan)

#580 When the person sitting beside you controlling the airplane window shade controls the airplane window shade exactly as you would control the airplane window shade

(Colleen Wales)

#579 Waking up naturally without the alarm after a whole night with uninterrupted sleep

(Brittany Lee Accardi)

#578 Having more work to do than you expected but still clocking out on time

(Brittany Lee Accardi)

#577 Seeing that dirty, rusty white tow truck that’s been driving around the neighborhood for years drive past you towing a shiny Porsche

#576 Walking in the woods following the footprints of a deer

(Melanie Jones Ruigrok)

#575 That hardcore local cabbie navigating his orange and teal cab through all the downtown alleys and back ways faster than any Uber robot following GPS

#574 Sitting down after lunch to read ‘for an hour or so’ and looking up to see the sun has gone down

(Rhonda Jefferis Berry)

#573 When you put your signal on to get into their lane right as they put their signal on to get into your lane

#572 Seamlessly simultaneously switching lanes

(Amanda Berry)

#571 Having just enough of the little bits of soap to finish your shower 

(Sylvia Emmorey)

#570 A beautiful cyclist riding right in front of you with long hair flowing out of their banana-yellow helmet

#569 That one friend of yours still confidently rocking their eyebrow or nose ring

#568 When that giant, bright-red pimple that suddenly appeared on your forehead disappears right before your girlfriend can beg you if she can pop it

#567 Popping your boyfriend’s pimple

#566 The sound of coyotes howling

(Trish Redman)

#565 Couch cuddles on a cold night

(Marilyn Zable)

#564 Warm banana bread fresh from the oven with a big smear of butter

(Shannon Lynne)

#563 First payday from a new job

(Heather Morse)

#562 Co-inventing a new drink with the barista at your local coffee shop

#561 When you stop in a coffee shop you worked in years ago and your laptop remembers the Wifi password 

#560 When the neighborhood coffee shop’s Daily Empanada is aloo gobi

#559 Meeting a new friend for dinner and then waking up the next morning to a bevy of links they sent you for every book, film, and song you talked about

#558 That surprise freak snowstorm after everybody thought it was spring

#557 When your dog who just warmed himself by the fire comes over and sits on you

(Margie Yondorf)

#556 When your local library recovers from the cybersecurity incident that’s been plaguing it for months and you can finally borrow books again

(Graeme Drinkwalter)

#555 When that cute person in glasses carrying a pile of five books walking past you at the used bookshop late on a Saturday night eyeballs the pile of five books you're carrying and says "Nice stack."

#554 Rolling your new luggage for the first time and the wheels have that perfectly smooth glide

(Krista KD Davis)

#553 The first good long hike after winter

(Rye Halls)

#552 When you get the recycling bins out in the nick of time and the truck driver gives you an "I got you" nod

(Mat Balez)

#551 Grabbing a yellow pouch of peanut M&Ms at the gas station and popping the first one in your mouth and it cleanly splits along its natural peanut and chocolate fault lines so you get both the first hit of sugar-enameled chocolate and some good peanut chewing

(Mike Jones)

#550 Tongue-playing with an extremely wiggly but not-at-all-painful baby tooth hanging on by a thread

(My 7-year-old)

#549 Driving past a rolling field full of hundreds of sheep

(Jean Dunham Moody)

#548 When the whole family has the same toaster setting

(Christine Baldry)

#547 Seeing little animal footprints embedded in sidewalk cement

(Sarah Kite Schwarzkopf)

#546 When that automatic flush toilet in the public bathroom actually flushes at the right time

(Alyse DeVries)

#545 Making it all the way to the end of the lip balm without losing it, dropping it, or accidentally putting it in the washing machine

(Tammy L Masters)

#544 When that loud construction in the house beside you for months finally stops and you see the lights on at night and get excited about meeting the new family who's about to move in

#543 When some anonymous person buys that vacant lot at the corner and turns it into a park instead of luxury condos

#542 A little flock of House Sparrows jumping and cheeping around you on the sidewalk bench outside the coffee shop

#541 That momentary meditative pause for that slow, deep trundle-trundle-trundle-ding-ding-trundle-trundle-trundle-ding-ding of two extra-long streetcars driving past each other on the busiest downtown intersection at the very peak of rush hour

#540 Finding one of those completely flattened paper-thin Coke cans in the alley and picking it up and taking it home and washing it and putting it up in your house as a piece of modern art

#539 Leaving a love note to your wife and each of your kids under their pillows before you head to the airport

#538 When your school principal sends everyone an email saying as of right now your school is officially phone free

#537 Bumping into someone wearing a championship hat for your hometown team from five or more years ago and stopping to briefly reminisce about the season

#536 Rock hard super cold perfectly sour-sweet raspberries

#535 Heaving your suitcase onto the metal scale and it's like three ounces over the limit but then the lady just looks up at you and your screaming kids before looking back down to peel off her giant sticker and stick it on

#534 When your wife says, "I'll do bedtime solo tonight. Why don't you take a break and go for a walk?"

#533 The first sip of ice-cold cider after a sweaty winter hike through a muddy field

#532 That first bright, sunny spring morning when you open your door and hear a dozen different birds singing

#531 When your mom emails you saying she's going to take the train into the city to meet you for lunch

#530 That tickly-massage feeling of dunking your hand into a giant bucket of Lego

(Pam Hansen)

#529 When the weather warms up so the tree blossoms bloom but then cools down for a week so they stay at peak bloom for a while

#528 Wearing your team’s jersey all day on game day and shouting ‘Go, our team’s name!’ to anyone walking by doing the same thing 

#527 Getting to your car super-thirsty in the morning and finding a bottle you left there yesterday before chugging some refreshing, freezing cold slush

#526 When the barista draws a highly detailed leaf or swan on your latte 

#525 When the local businesses pitch in to put street planters full of yellow and pink tulips all the way down main street

#524 Finding Easter eggs around your house weeks after Easter

(Mike Jones)

#523 When the crosswalk countdown says there's three seconds left but you know the amber takes a couple seconds and then another couple seconds for the double reds so you keeping walking at your current speed without pausing or slowing and, attuned to the perfect clockwork of the universe, step onto the curb right before the opposing light turns green

#522 Accidentally recording and texting someone a voice memo but then after being briefly mortified realizing you didn’t say anything horrible

#521 Losing your reading glasses and then remembering you have another pair of reading glasses

#520 When the owner of the coffee shop / pizza place / hair salon is also working at the coffee shop / pizza place / hair salon

#519 Using one of those giant, curved mirrors at the top of the steep underground parking garage to successfully not hit a pedestrian

#518 Changing your closet from winter to spring clothes and noticing your spring clothes are a little loose

(Lynn Nymick)

#517 When the barista knows you’ve been sick and makes you an off-the-menu lemon, ginger, turmeric tea with spoon of creamed honey on the side

#516 When you can't find your 5-year-old anywhere and then suddenly hear them giggling and look up and they're seven feet high in your backyard tree

#515 When pedestrians take over the streets after the game and all the cars have to sit around and wait for the cheering parade to roll by

#514 Taking a kid on their first trip to the zoo

#513 A calm pigeon walking across a busy downtown street

#512 When you’re getting a massage and they get into feet, calf, or glute territory

#511 When your street suddenly tips over to majority electric cars

#510 When you pop into your favorite corner restaurant just before closing but the guy in the kitchen says, ‘I got time! What can I get you?’

#509 Spending seven perfectly efficient seconds with your spouse figuring the best plan to pick up and drop off and drive around your kids and then immediately jumping into military-precise execution

#508 Seeing someone driving the same make and model of car you’re driving and giving them a nod or letting them merge in front of you

(Mike Jones)

#507 When your cell phone survives at 1% battery life way longer than you expected

#506 Going to a concert for a very specific band and discovering you are part of a very specific crowd that you very specifically love

#505 When the sun pokes out for ten minutes right before sunset at the end of a long and cloudy day

#504 First everybody-in-shorts day

#503 Seeing kids doing karate in a warm and brightly lit studio window on main street on a cold, dark, and rainy night

#502 Breakfast burritos for dinner

(Chandler Bainter)

#501 Opening a brand-new jar of peanut butter and brand-new jar of jelly on the same day

(Amanda Berry)

#500 Successfully grabbing only one paper plate from the paper plate pile

(Pam Hansen)

#499 Going to a bridal shower and feeling the memories of falling in love with your husband thirty years ago flood back

(Sarah Reese)

#498 Seeing a baby wear the outfit you bought for them

(Rebecca M)

#497 The first green leaf poking out of your newly seeded vegetable trays

(Carol Jarka)

#496 Emailing a friend and getting their ooo message and feeling happy they're on vacation

#495 Going to the 24-hour downtown diner in the middle of the night and ordering a giant milkshake

#494 When you’re on a roll doing the dishes and someone suddenly races around finding all the remaining dirty dishes so your roll can continue

#493 Driving down a bright, sunny, country road and seeing the shadow of a cloud floating across the fields

(Jennifer Cox)

#492 Hearing your name get called when you’re at the gate waiting standby trying to get home early

(Lesley Mace)

#491 When the deli counter worker puts one more slice on the stack after punching your price ticket

(Jane Slater)

#490 Flying across the country to your hometown to surprise your dad for his birthday and then walking in with your sister who’s holding a pizza and she says to your dad and her kids, ‘Hey, look who I found at the pizza place!’, and everyone laughs and cries and hugs and twenty minutes later one of your little nephews says ‘Why were you at the pizza place?’

(A member of the awesome community)

#489 Seeing a hawk or falcon circling high amongst the downtown skyscrapers

#488 When the chocolate bar in your backpack melted to the point of being deliciously melty but not to the point of full meltification

#487 Tank top confidence

#486 Teaching your kids smart jaywalking

#485 Getting to the toilet right before you pee your pants

(Lewis Mallard)

#484 That one person still confidently driving a purple PT Cruiser

#483 A restaurant sign in your neighborhood so old their phone number doesn't even have an area code on it

#482 Having a greasy slice of pepperoni pizza on a chipped picnic table on a hot, sunny day

#481 Calling up that one family member who always answers the phone

#480 When you open the pizza box that just got delivered to your house and it's still steaming hot

#479 Bikes passing cars in rush hour

#478 When bird crap lands right beside you

(Lewis Mallard)

#477 Discovering that the new phone or laptop you just bought miraculously fits the plug from your old phone or laptop

#476 Finding a perfect large, crunchy pinecone on the sidewalk and taking it home as a pet

#475 When you guess it won't rain even though it says it will rain and then it doesn’t rain

#474 When the food arrives way quicker than the delivery app says it will

#473 The loud, buzzy chatter in your group of friends on the sidewalk-spilling walk home from school near the end of the year 

#472 Walking by a car with a bumper sticker you agree with

#471 When the bus driver notices you running and waits

(Lewis Mallard)

#470 Skipping work for a day to chaperone your kid’s school field trip

#469 Hearing a dog do little barks and tail wags during happy dreams

(Ashley Lee)

#468 Eating warm berries right from the market stand

#467 Seeing the ripples in the water from the airplane window

#466 Being the only person in one of those gigantic airport elevators and feeling like you’re captain of a flying room

#465 When the crab cakes have crab chunks instead of grated crab

#464 Seeing two drivers in matching classic roadsters wave and smile as they cruise past each other in the grocery store parking lot

(Casey Fogle)

#463 Friendships that are strong enough that you can openly tell each other when you don't want to hang out

(Leslie Richardson)

#462 When the delayed incoming flight affecting your delayed outgoing flight finally takes off

#461 Someone giving you a new pair of sunglasses and they perfectly fit

#460 Watching the garbage truck stab its two prongs into a huge dumpster outside the school then slowly tip it up, up, up and over its own roof till the lids clang open and everything comes flying out

#459 That battered paperback on your shelf that’s been opened so many times the spine is now almost completely white

#458 First sip of an iced coffee on a blazing hot day

#457 Sitting in the sun-speckled shade in the garden patio behind your favorite coffee shop

#456 That perfect flaky-crunch first bite into the chocolate croissant

#455 A row of people on the subway reading books

#454 Ignoring everything going on in politics for a while

#453 Farting in an open air boat

#452 Snuggling your warm, bleary-eyed toddler just after they wake up from their nap

#451 Finally seeing a bird going in and out of the birdhouse you put up in your backyard years ago

#450 When the lake is so calm it’s a perfect mirror of the other side

#449 Coming upon an obstacle course of dog poo on the sidewalk and making it across without stepping on a single smear

(Hudson, Age 10)

#448 First night at the cottage energy

#447 That first salted bite of the very first, very large, very red local tomato

#446 Watching the garlic bread very closely in the oven window and then pulling it out at peak sizzle

#445 Seeing a terrier mutt carrying a stick that is longer than his body

(Elizabeth McDonald-Pratt)

#444 Somebody offering to take your grocery cart back to the store right after you finished emptying all your groceries from it

#443 Finishing the chapter of the audiobook right as you pull into the driveway

(Alicia Stetler)

#442 Making friends with the stray cats outside your building and giving them treats when you take out the garbage

(Sam Bradley)

#441 Seeing a giant spotted stingray jump out of the water right in front of you

(Marina Danic Hasson)

#440 The final dump after carrying ten wheelbarrows of dirt to your backyard for new flower beds

(Debbie Walsh)

#439 Icy margaritas with chips and queso on the patio

(Katie Taylor)

#438 The sound of a motorboat in the distance coming closer and closer and closer and then you hear the kids screaming and laughing in a tube as it whips by

#437 Plugging the plug into the outlet on the first try in the dark

(Chelsea Perry)

#436 The first sleep on a new mattress

(Jean Nagel Zadilsky)

#435 Hearing an owl calling in the middle of the night

#434 Finding some rhubarb sauce in the back of the freezer and realizing you also have vanilla ice cream

(Becky Fox)

#433 Moonlit raindrops on pine needles

(Sarah Kite Schwarzkopf)

#432 Listening to the receptionist sing along to the radio while waiting at the walk-in clinic

(Sylvia Emmorey)

#431 Discovering your new work parking space does not puddle in the rain

(Nikki Kemp)

#430 When all the tables are full at the coffee shop and someone looks up and and smiles and says “You can share my table with me”

#429 Morning mist over a calm lake

#428 Complimenting someone’s arm tattoo and then they roll up their sleeve and it gets even better

#427 Warm stretchy Rice Krispie squares

#426 Summer feet

#425 Becoming eye-contact-through-the-window friends with that cat you see every day on your way to work 

(Anne Hughes)

#424 Someone lightly smacking your forehead to kill the mosquito that just landed there

#423 Surprisingly finishing an assignment two days early instead of two hours early

(Jennifer Beech)

#422 Writing on a cloudy morning with the door open and it pouring rain outside

#421 When the gas bill is less than last time

#420 Learning a new card game

#419 The sound of loons singing across the lake late at night

#418 Staying somewhere new and somehow figuring out how their complicated three remote control system works

#417 Licking the top of the pudding cup lid

#416 Filling the hummingbird feeder and then a hummingbird comes right away

#415 Your daughter picking out and reading a book to you when you’re too tired to read to her 

(Meagan Dalby)

#414 Cutting your food in a different shape and giving it a different name to successfully get your kid to like it

#413 When your wonderful school principal leaves but you get an even more wonderful school principal

#412 That geometrically perfect spider web in the morning covered with dew

#411 Seeing a turtle sunbathing on a rock

#410 Finding out that your daughter is pregnant and you're going to be a grandmother

(Elizabeth MacDonald-Pratt)

#409 Dumping an entire bag of chips into a pot and bringing it to the pool 

#408 A fresh bouquet of bright orange sunflowers 

#407 Walking in bare feet on a hot wood deck and then stepping off onto long cool grass

#406 Sharpening all your pencils and putting them in your pencil case beside your sharp, perfect-rectangle white eraser the night before school starts

#405 Getting the teacher you wanted

#404 When those small sweet and sour blue grapes come out at the grocery store

#403 When the fly that just flew in, flies out

(Jen Penman)

#402 When the guy on your basketball team forgets their gym shorts but plays in jeans anyway

(Mike Jones)

#401 Ice cream stores with liberal policies

#400 Watching all the old previews before watching that old movie you’re about to watch in the basement on DVD or VHS

#399 Riding your bike so fast your T-shirt starts flapping

#398 Being able to move again after your back unseizes

#397 Moving into a house that gets mailbox mail delivery after having to go to a box on the corner / pick it up from an apartment lobby your whole life up to this point

#396 Dark end-of-summer tan lines

#395 When the GPS says your destination is faster to get to by bike than by car

(Graeme Drinkwalter)

#394 Lunch Dessert

#393 Lying down on the one lie-down spot on the couch before the movie starts and your kid coming and lying right on top of you

#392 Making eye contact and grin-shrugging with the person in the car next to you while you both sit in construction

(Jes Ann)

#391 Yelling hello to your neighbor on the porch across the street and them yelling hello back

#390 The moment the fever medication kicks in

(Casey Fogle)

#389 Seeing someone smile when you remember their name after just meeting them

(Ashley Lee)

#388 More-than-a-couple-days-less-than-a-full-week beard length

#387 Successfully hiding cauliflower rice in your kids’ taco meat and them saying “This is really good, mom!”

(Marleen Haché)

#386 When the train runs on time

#385 Rotating your ankle just right and getting a big pop

(Ashley Lee)

#384 When a paper cut stops stinging

#383 Doing burpees at the beginning of a workout rather than the end

(Ashley Lee)

#382 When the HVAC guy is able to come the same day

(Casey Fogle)

#381 Slicing open a lemon with no seeds

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#380 Going to a museum by yourself and spending as much or as little time as you want at every exhibit

(Dara Smida)

#379 The sound of a handwritten card being slipped under your office door

(Dana Lavoie)

#378 Actually remembering your company password Monday morning after your computer made you change it on Friday afternoon

(Steve Ochry)

#377 Snagging the last picnic table at the park

#376 Sudden fantasy football trash talk escalation

#375 How green all the plants look after a heavy rain

#374 The first time you do a header in soccer

#373 Switching T-shirts with a friend in the middle of the day

#372 Wearing one of those giant wide-brimmed farmer's hats that cast tiny checkerboard shadows on your face

#371 Making a sandwich in the morning on frozen bread and it's that perfect chewy-freshness at lunch

#370 When your Uber driver is singing romantic Hindi love songs

#369 A surprise weekday lunch date with your spouse

(Tammy L Masters)

#368 A woodpecker pecking on a tree to the beat of your deck speaker

(Karen Lise Andersen)

#367 Walking in the front door Friday after work and your husband's baking cupcakes

#366 When the campfire smoke blows away from your face

(Katrina Krakowiak)

#365 Taking your kid out to look at the construction trucks and the workers let him climb inside

(Pam Hansen)

#364 Finding your husband's new hiding spot for his candy stash

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#363 Finding your car at the airport after a long vacation

(Helena Ruken)

#362 When all the neighbors are outside enjoying a warm night and everyone ends up chatting till dark on your driveway

(Heather Morse)

#361 Seeing your suitcase tumble out of the luggage ramp at your final destination after a long trip with multiple flights

(Liz Sproat)

#360 Surprise calf massages during the pedicure

(Jennifer Sammon)

#359 Getting leftovers from a big community dinner and not having to cook all week

(Chelsea Perry)

#358 Carpool karaoke with your grandchildren

(Lori Gummer)

#357 Seeing a family with big smiles bring a giant couch to the till at the warehouse store

(Kimberley Ann Blixt)

#356 When someone says "I'll make this short" and they do

(Karleen Haché)

#355 When all the dogs in the dog park actually stay in the dog park

#354 Finally unzipping your tight jeans after getting home from a really late party

(my 8 year old)

#353 Noticing the bush in your backyard is full of Monarch butterflies

(Cindy Emerson)

#352 Getting late to hockey but making it on the ice in time

#351 When someone compliments your glasses

#350 People shivering and smiling on a sunny patio in October

#349 Lampposts on your street covered in "Local Running Club," "Laneway Party," and "Found Cat" posters

#348 Hearing that successful hotel room ‘access granted’ noise after you’ve been worrying the whole elevator ride that your key card isn't going to work cause it was in your pocket next to your phone

(Emily McDowell)

#347 The smell of warm clothes when you open the dryer

#346 When that person next to you on the airplane loudly video calling their three-year-old from the tarmac finally hangs up

#345 When the barista at the coffee shop smiles at you when you walk in the door

#344 Seeing someone driving an old-school Beetle or Mini

#343 When a fresh spray painted mural shows up outside the gritty subway station

#342 When a text goes through right before you lose service

(Emily McDowell)

#341 The first song at the wedding where everybody joins in on the dance floor

#340 Somehow managing to get a good night's sleep in the dusty hotel room with the loud HVAC

#339 Losing your glasses and then remembering you have another pair of glasses

#338 When the stranger sitting in front of you opens the airplane compartment and then takes down and hands you your suitcase

#337 Little kids stopping to stare at the fire truck as it drives by and the firefighters honking and waving

#336 The point after your shoes have comfortably worked around your foot but before the soles are dead

#335 When you forget your scarf at a restaurant and you go back for it and it’s still there

(Emily McDowell)

#334 A homemade iced hibiscus tea and warm blueberry-white chocolate muffin with a side of honey butter at the local coffee shop

#333 When that new movie you've been wanting to see but missed in theaters is listed under New Releases on the airplane movie system

I wrote 1000 Awesome Things from 2008 – 2012. In April 2020, I decided to write The Next 1000 during the pandemic. Now, we’re doing a second encore. Get your daily #secondencore awesome over email right here.