Best Things List

A while back, I created a note in my phone called "Best Things." Since then, whenever I'm reminded of a little thing that I love, I mark it down. Keeping a list of my favorite small treasures in life has offered me a ton of gratitude and joy. I've pasted the list below in case it helps bring to mind some of your favorite things!

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• When strangers join in singing "Happy Birthday to You" with another table at a restaurant

• Seeing the vending machine opened up while the snacks are replaced

• Checking out someone's book collection

• Driving past perfectly aligned soybean fields

• Hidden compartments

• Getting a lawnmower to start

• When a window lets you see food like donuts or tortillas get made

• Bowling alley animations

• Rotating pie displays at diners

• Urban parks

• Seeing voice actors do characters' voices

• Dog noises (collar chiming, pitter-patter of paws on floor)

• Hotel brochure stands

• When a business has been around for so long that they don't include an area code in their phone number

• When you ask a stranger to take a photo of you, and they smile because you're smiling

• Free refills

• Globes with little bumps for mountains

• First seeing the playing surface at a sports stadium

• When snow looks blue as it's getting dark outside

• Movie theater aesthetics: neon colors, retro fonts, polygonal signs and carpet designs

• The sound of shoes on the wet ground in 80s movies

• People excitedly realizing they're on the Jumbotron at a game

• Can crushers near the recycling bin

• Histories/write-ups on the backs of menus

• Dogs' eyebrow expressions

• The reveal of seeing your hotel room

• Haunted houses

• That the first and last sips of hot cocoa are the best ones

• Buildings without a 13th floor

• The exact amount we know about outer space

• Static fuzz on old TVs

• Televised sporting events picking up single voices very clearly

• Cutting a corner in a plastic bag to make a frosting dispenser

• Color swatch books

• Swings

• Seeing what's on the TVs for sale on Craigslist

• Kicking the snow/ice that collects in cars' wheel wells

• Moving walkways

• When a stranger says goodbye even if you didn't converse (e.g. on an elevator)

• Old computer screensavers

• New TV screensavers (city flyovers preferred)

• Seeing the latest cover of a magazine for the first time

• Sneaking a few pepperonis off of a pre-cooked frozen pizza

• Tackle boxes that open up into various compartments

• Tiny holiday town dioramas

• Pushing the buttons on a soft drink lid

• The moon during the day

• Three-nut peanuts

• Fire escapes on old brick buildings

• Houses that used to be schools

• Businesses that used to be houses

• Learning about landmarks from the sides of U-Haul trucks

• The pizza reveal when you crack open the box

• Seeing the other side of a train platform through the brief spaces between cars of a passing train

• Books with ribbons/bookmarks built into them

• Those POV driving/countdown sequences before the movie starts at a theater

• Subway station tiles

• When a movie based on real life shows the actual people as the closing credits start

• Striped railroad crossing gates (bonus points if aloft)