It’s the Little Things

Once, when we lived in Western Washington, I was driving my middle son to school and he said, “Mom, what’s that thing in the sky?”

I said “What thing? Where?”

He said, “Right there – it’s like a big spaceship looking thing.”

I looked and sure enough, hovering just behind the clouds was a weird spaceship looking orb.

“Well, that’s the sun, buddy,” I said. Then we laughed, because it had been so long since we’d seen the sun, we’d both kind of forgotten what it looked like.

Now we live in Italy. It’s summer time and the sun is always shining. My Seattle wardrobe of black shirts, tight pants, boots, sweater throws and slouchy hats isn’t cutting it here. So, I recently went shoping and bought three new dresses. Not just any dresses – sun dresses. They’re made out of air and they’re ruffly, swishy and completely, utterly ridiculous.

I love them.

Like, I love, love them.

Like, too much.

The other day, I told my husband I feel bad for people who don’t have a big flowy, swishy, ruffly dress. I never had a dress like that before. In many ways, you could say my life is split, B.D. (Before Dress) and A.D. (After Dress).

Life A.D. is swishier. Sometimes I just stand in the sun and sway my dress back and forth. Sometimes the wind blows and it rustles the dress like a tree full of fall leaves. I was walking through the city yesterday and a breeze caught the dress and blew it up at the edges. I think I looked like Marilyn Monroe.

I have no proof that I looked like Marilyn Monroe. But hot damn, I felt like it.

Why?

Swishy dress.

When the breeze riled Marilyn Monroe’s dress on that iconic day, instead of quickly covering her legs (which would have been a very 50’s move), she exclaimed “Isn’t it delicious?“

It is delicious.

It’s the little things.

There’s really not an overarching point or deeper lesson to this post. Except, maybe get a swishy dress to wear in the sun. Or whatever the equivalent is for you. Because, at the end of the day, why not find joy in small and silly things? You’ll definitely be happier if you do. The big ones are great, but they’re few and far between. Let’s all have more joy in the meantime.   

#thepurposeoflifeisaswishydress

It’s the little things.