Simple Pleasures

I was thinking this morning about stuff that makes me happy, and I've concluded that I really am a guy who like simple pleasures. Among the things that make me happy lately:

Downloading a really good song off iTunes.
The morning paper waiting for me.
Playing the same four chords that Tom Petty, Lou Reed or Third Day put together and having it sound exactly like the way they played 'em.
Laughing out loud with co-workers, especially my student ministry staff.
Watching a bride & her family get our church ready for a wedding.
Starbucks breakfast blend, but in my own kitchen.
Reading a book and knowing after reading two chapters that you could recommend it.
My dog wagging his tail & jumping on the sofa armrest to see me when I come home.
Seeing Shelby's satisfied exhaustion every night from ballet.
Watching a Rangers baseball game with Kelsey and the inevitable highs and lows, celebrated with a seated "touchdown" & woohooing or throw pillows over our faces & saying "uh-oh."
My wife's spaghetti & lemon chicken.
Watching brides or seniors pick up their photographs my wife took and complimenting her on them...knowing not only that they're correct but they're also too understated in their praise.
A thunderstorm. Any thunderstorm.
Putting on my Chuck Taylor Converse hightops or Birkenstocks with holes in 'em, or my Doc Martens...the only three shoes anyone really needs.
Trying to decide if I need to get in on the action when the three ladies in my life are laughing in the other room.
Trying to decide whether or not to see a particular movie and listening to the rationale.
Watching the the boys who live across the street and their friends just be boys, climbing in trees or playing "army" or trying out skateboard moves in the driveway.
When a student invites me to coffee one last time before they go off to college.

Yep...

...those are the real deal for me.