\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the pandemic, when we were both working from home, my husband and I started having a daily \u2018tea-and-toast break\u2019 when our schedules accommodated. It provides a few minutes each day when we talk, laugh, sit in the garden, or otherwise relax and enjoy each other\u2019s company.\u201d \u2014 Dawn Schneiderman, Williston, Vermont<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cThere is a food truck down the street that serves brisket tacos. I walk down a couple times a week. The owner calls me \u2018Gramma.\u2019 A little farther down is a bar\/lounge that sells coffee from locally roasted beans. They call me \u2018hot rod\u2019 or \u2018hot wheels\u2019 because I drive a red 2007 Mustang convertible.\u201d \u2014 D. E., 76, Texas<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI make my bed. But I don\u2019t just make it; I \u2018remake\u2019 it: I air out the sheets while eating breakfast, then I start by smoothing down the fitted sheet before bringing up each layer again. In the end, I have a beautifully made bed that makes me feel that I have not only \u2018closed the door\u2019 to the night before, but that I have officially opened the door to the day.\u201d \u2014 Tony D.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cEvery morning, I hear my blue jays alerting me that they are sitting in the river-birch tree in the backyard, waiting for their morning peanuts. As soon as I toss the peanuts, a flock of jays flutters down to grab them. With a smile, I get my coffee and watch.\u201d \u2014 Susan H.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cAfter I start the coffee, the dog and then the cat get their morning pets and rubs, from nose to tail. I inquire how they slept, about the day\u2019s plans, and if breakfast was to their liking. The actors have changed over the years, but it is a well-rehearsed script.\u201d \u2014 Denise L.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cWhen waiting for my computer to do something, I listen to a song-in-progress I\u2019m recording in GarageBand and imagine how great it will sound when it\u2019s finished, and how I will get it there.\u201d \u2014 Bob C., Larchmont, New York<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cRather than start my day delectably, I end it, around midnight, with a short, slow walk to the park with my 9-year-old, chubby Norwich Terrier. Magnolia and I talk; I do it with words, she with looks and reactions, both of us unleashed in the coolness of the desert night after a day of three-digit temperatures.\u201d \u2014 Rosemary K., 67, Las Vegas, Nevada<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been knitting, off and on, since I was 8. I keep a project in the car for when I\u2019m stuck at a long train crossing, in the pickup lane at Walmart for my prescription, or at the Whataburger drive-through. You\u2019d be surprised at how quickly you can knit a pair of baby socks in scraps of time.\u201d \u2014 Lynn Elliott Davis, 73, Dallas, Texas<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI add a small delectable moment by letting my Sheltie dog lick my feet at the end of the day. Judging by her enthusiasm, this seems to be a delectable moment for her as well.\u201d \u2014 Kim Stanley, 70, McPherson, Kansas<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI ask myself every morning what would enchant my day. The answers vary: a walk in the forest behind my house, mad dancing to \u201980s tunes in the living room, reading for two hours straight in the evening, talking to my best friend, sipping a glass of something or other by the window sans screens.\u201d \u2014 Sibylle L.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI simply make a point of talking to strangers by finding something small we share at the moment\u2014that the bus is late, or that an interesting dog just walked by.\u201d \u2014 William Lynch Higgins, Port Townsend, Washington<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cWe recently discovered the Japanese art of dorodango, where you roll mud into balls and polish them until they shine like mirrored glass. It\u2019s incredible, free, and utterly satisfying. The final result has the weight and hardness of a billiard ball\u2014using nothing but dirt and water!\u201d \u2014 Khara Plicanic, 46, Lincoln, Nebraska<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI try nearly every day to belt out all the words of my favorite earworm of the moment. Lately, it\u2019s been Lady Gaga\u2019s \u2018Vanish Into You.\u2019 It\u2019s like I\u2019m in a music video. Okay\u2014probably more likely an episode of Girls.\u201d \u2014 Brittany Shepherd, 30, Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cMy small, delectable moment is when I take a nap with my dog Rosie at around 3 p.m. every afternoon. She sleeps at the far corner of the bed when we nap. However, at night, when she also sleeps with me, she places herself right next to my head. I don\u2019t know why she makes this distinction, but she always makes me laugh.\u201d \u2014 R. F. Mezzy, almost 73, Hamden, Connecticut<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI am a full-time caretaker for my partner of 49 years. It\u2019s hard and demanding work marinated in sadness, so small moments of joy are very important. My favorite time is the early morning, when I take the dogs for a walk as my loved one sleeps. Their wagging tails and springing steps remind me that happiness lives in me as well.\u201d \u2014 Jane S., 79, California<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cA landscape painter once told me that in order to truly capture a scene, he first tries to name the colors he sees. You have to stop and really take in something, be it a flower, a child\u2019s eyes, a mountain, or a cloud, in order to describe its colors.\u201d \u2014 Crys S., 69, Fernie, British Columbia, Canada<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cOne of the best moments of my day is my \u2018thriller\u2019 walk. I throw on a hat, grab a cup of coffee and my AirPods, and take an hour-long walk while I listen to a psychological thriller or mystery. It\u2019s the only time I allow myself an audiobook, so I\u2019m genuinely excited to wake up early and head out the door.\u201d \u2014 Diane H., 62, Black Diamond, Washington<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cI look for a gift each day. A redbud leaf with scalloped edges gifts me the awareness that a leafcutter bee is nearby. A hawk soaring. A toad in the yard, a turtle crossing the road. If I stop to be observant, I can identify the gift for that day.\u201d \u2014 Cheryl<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u201cIs it a clich\u00e9 to point to morning coffee as an immediate, life-affirming delight? Each day contains exactly one first sip and no more. You need to make it through a whole day to earn another\u2014and then it starts all over again.\u201d \u2014 Meg Z. S., 71, Old Saybrook, Connecticut<\/p>\n<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cDuring the pandemic, when we were both working from home, my husband and I started having a daily \u2018tea-and-toast break\u2019 when our schedules accommodated. It provides a few minutes each day when we talk, laugh, sit in the garden, or otherwise relax and enjoy each other\u2019s company.\u201d \u2014 Dawn Schneiderman, Williston, Vermont \u201cThere is a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[335,337,3865],"class_list":{"0":"post-15812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-feel","9":"tag-life","10":"tag-nicer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}