Simple Pleasures

I have a personal list of simple pleasures.

Here is a partial list:
1. A good nights rest.
2. A good meal with good friends.
3. A good run on a cool morning.
4. Reading a good book on my back deck, with an ice cold drink and a crisp apple to snack on.
5. A day with my Grand kids.
6. An evening enjoying good live music with my lover and best friend, Linda.
7. Watching a good movie, with popcorn, of course.
8. A long walk on the beach on a warm, sunny day.
9. Planning a trip to a place I have never been before.
10. An afternoon mowing, trimming, and watering my yard and garden.

When I make a list like this I realize that simple pleasures are really the best of all. Who likes anything that is complicated and expensive and stressful?

One fellow was interviewed on the grand occasion of reaching his 100th birthday. The question I remember vividly was this: What has been your greatest joy? He smiled big and said, "The simple pleasures of good food and good friends - I love being with people."

I sat in a restaurant recently enjoying a nice meal with my dear Linda. We ate, laughed, talked about our day, our Grand Kids, and shared a dessert. Nearby a family of five surrounded a table with large plates of food - not one smile on any face. Dad looked like he was about to explode, Mom kept sending text messages all during the meal, the three kids looked as if they would have rather been in solitary confinement. My heart went out to them. The simple pleasure of a good meal together wasted. I imagined that away from that table Dad was fighting hard to make enough money to keep all those kids in clothes and save for college. Mom worked countless hours both in her career and at home so that the texting was therapy or an addiction to cope with it all. And those unhappy kids - insecure, trying to figure out how to grow up, look cool, and of course, never make life easy for their parents.

Oh, that we could all see the value in a simpler life - free of the constant stress and clutter and frustration and anger that had that family by the throat.

One more simple pleasure - finishing this blog. Good night, my friends!

Just thinking, Steve Yates