The Big Three: Ice Cream!

The world can be a crazy place. Sometimes it helps to step back and list a few of the things you’re grateful for. I’m making it a habit each week to list three blessings. Here’s what I’m grateful for this week, May 25 – 31.

What I’m grateful for:

—Ice cream. The first taste of ice cream on a breezy spring day. Death by Chocolate. Cotton Candy. Need I say more.

—Strike-up the band. There’s nothing else like a small-town parade. You have the Little League teams walking in their shiny uniforms. You have Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts showing off their new badges. Students from the high school marching band play a patriotic song or something fun from Star Wars. You’ve got local VFW and American Legion members. A few of them squeeze into their old military uniforms, holding in their bellies the best they can. You have fire companies from across the region driving their recently cleaned fire trucks. A neighbor up the street drives the newest truck, another drives an old truck from the 70s that comes only once or twice a year. They honk their horns as they drive through town. You have the old car enthusiast. There are lots of convertibles. Kids on the parade route hold out flags. Parade participants in the back of flat-bed trucks throw candy to them. There’s nothing else like it.

—Soaking up the music. With the passing of Memorial Day, I’m in a summer mood. I’m thinking about some of the classic songs of summer. I’m thinking of “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys; “Schools Out” by Alice Cooper; “Soak Up The Sun” by Cheryl Crow; “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and, of course, “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding. What songs make you think of the summer sun and family.

“Sittin on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.

What gave me a smile?

Some great advice. The words that jump out at me:

• Set small goals, knock them off, set more goals.
• Happiness as a state of being.
• Remembering when everything was alright.
• Believe in yourself.