Being able to drive the darkness away with the flick of a switch.
Brand new socks. mmm…
I love being able to buy exotic foods from all around the world at the store just down the street.
Sometimes I actually get amazed that I can travel down a concrete path 100 feet wide and get to a destination within minutes or hours. Funny how for most of humanity’s history traveling 50 miles would have taken days.
Food left in the break room (i.e., someone bringing some homemade cookies they made the night before, or a box of doughnuts bought on the way to work). It’s such an act of kindness, and it’s always, always appreciated.
Agreed on the glass of cold milk, particularly whole milk. Mmmmm, fatty goodness.
Candy from the old-fashioned candy store down the street from where I work. The place has been in business since…1907? Something like that. I walk in there and I’m a little girl again.
Er…I suppose I should just say I enjoy food in general. Such a basic necessity, but soooooo enjoyable.
On non-food related pleasures:
Breathing through both nostrils, as well as being able to yawn without having to attempt to pop my ears. I catch colds as easily as a frog catches flies, and I always dread feeling that slight tickle in the back of my throat indicating that another one is coming. My singing voice, by extension, is also something I appreciate (though, sadly, not as much as I used to).
Music. Particularly something with a beat, or something I can sing along to. Belting out my favorites in an empty house is a very good time indeed.
And finally (well, for now, at least): my bed. I’ve finally gotten something bigger than a twin, with a big fluffy comforter. Always good to have that waiting for me after work.
I never used to be one for planning or even looking very far ahead but a few years ago one of my closest friends died rather suddenly. Since then I have started being constantly aware of little things that I am looking forward to apart from events in the life of me, my friends and family - upcoming movies, unpublished books. yet to be recorded albums, some young tyro’s blossoming sports career, a concert, a future meal at a new place.
It is a terrific feeling getting excited by the shorts of say the next Robert Downey movie rather than just being ho-hum about the wait.
Two simple pleasures I wish I had to enjoy. I’m posting at 2:30 am because my bed is fighting with me. My aching bones keep rubbing the silly bumps and quilting somebody put there to torment me.
But some simple pleasures I do enjoy:
Getting a birthday call from my grandchildren. I eschew cards and gifts, as I have for years, as misplaced commercialism. It’s the contact I want, not the gift, that’s what stays with you.
Finding a penny in the parking lot always cheers me up. I bring it right back home and toss it in the complex’s fountain. It’s my own private wishing well, I guess. I can see nobody else contributes coins, so all the luck is mine.
When I go back to Michigan and see a real sunset it cheers me up for a month. In the west the sunsets are pretty tame. They say it’s because the ocean air contains so little dust, and so few thunder clouds, and the farm states have more of both. But whatever makes it happen I love to see it.
100% wool yarn. So brightly colored and pretty in the skein, and knits up so squishy and soft and warm - I have approximately 8 skeins of various colors of worsted weight wool in my closet waiting for me to turn them into hats and mittens and little pretty things for Christmas. Yes, I sometimes sit around just petting my knitting. I can’t buy a sheep, I’m not allowed to have pets here.
My bed. If I wasn’t married already, I’d marry my bed. After 13 years of futons, it was just bliss when we bought our house and bought a huge, comfortable, hard, cuddly bed. And all proper matching sheets, covers etc to go with it. The BEST!
I love my garden too. I love weeding and tidying it. I love the flowers that seem to grow happily for me and the scraggy crappy veg that I seem to be always on the verge of killing. But I love it all and deeply appreciate it after 13 years of tiny Japanese apartment life.
Hot water on my itchy eczema. ITCHGASM! Then swish with cool, and all the nerve endings have fired off and tired themselves out and I know I’m going to have an hour without itching. If I can get to sleep in that window, I will have a good night’s sleep. I always, always appreciate the fact that we have a nice bathroom with a good strong shower jet, and unlimited hot water. Bliss.
Then to get into that lovely bed with slightly damp toes…
Walking to the shops. Whenever I am tempted to drive the 1200m to the local supermarket I stop to think how I’d feel if I couldn’t walk, and I know I’d give anything to be able to stroll into town.
The moment I shut my eyes after having stared at my computer screen for a good hour or so. The pain and the pressure of eyelid against eyeball is heaven especially if I put my head down on the desk for a moment.
Yet another vote for a comfortable bed. I have the most lovely, soft set of sheets right now, and am enjoying the entry into the season of blankets. I use a series of rather light layers of cotton blankets that are added to my bed one at a time over a period of weeks as the weather gets colder. There’s something so delicious about the combination the weight of the blankets and the softness of the sheets, esp. since I’m still sleeping jammy-free till winter really sets in.
And another vote for hot water – esp. when you get the temperature just right. I had a most delicious bath Monday night, right before getting into my most delicious bed.
The affection of a pet. I have two cats with very different personalities, and don’t know which is more delightful – when Jezebel, that hussy, stretches out so I can bury my face in her tummy, or when the ordinarily rather standoffish Zebulon parks himself on my stomach while I’m reading in bed.
I came in here to add this one as well.
Several years ago it was deemed that there was a monopoly on gas here in the Atlanta area, and we were all forced to pick a new supplier or be given one at random. I picked one no problem. Then they never sent me a bill. Being young and stupid, and thought “heck with em, if they want paid, they’ll send me a bill.” I wasn’t the only one as it turns out. A lot of people didn’t receive bills [ALOPDRB]
Um yeah… stupid idea. Evidently a TON of other people had this idea too because [ALOPDRB]. My gas was shut off… the phone lines to the gas company were always busy because [ALOPDRB]. When I finally got through, I had to pay my bill for 6 - 8 months of service with no bills? I don’t remember exactly how long, but I know I had to borrow money from a friend to pay the damn thing. It was several hundred dollars. I then had to get on the schedule to have my service turned back on, because [ALOPDRB], I also had to wait a week or two for that.
So, moral of the story is that I got a good lesson on what a truly cold shower was, and I still regularly get in the shower and think… “Man, I LOVE hot water.”
