Its all about the little things in life

In life I have a lot of major things to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my Mom, all 5 ft” of her, my little fierce Mama Angie. I’m grateful for my dad, Jim, who’s bountiful knowledge of useless information has kept me entertained for the past 19 years. I’m grateful for my brother who knocks me down a peg when needed but always has my back in a way only an older brother can. I’m grateful for having honestly the funniest, craziest most loyal lunatics for a group of friends. I’m grateful that I am loved, that I’m fed, receiving an education and live in a lovely home in a first world country. I’d love to say I’m grateful for my health but ya the whole Lupus thing. But let us put all that to the side for a moment and talk about the little things, the things that are like the sun on your face on a warm day that isn’t too hot or too cold. I’d like to dedicate this post to those little things, the things that keep you going on a rough day.

Tea. I don’t know if it’s just an Irish thing but tea really is magnificent isn’t it? Whoever decided all those years ago to brew a few leaves in a mug and drink it, I’m going to pretend his name was George, was a bona fide genius. George my dear friend you have brought strength to the weak, quenched the thirsty, given money to the poor.. well not really the last one but all the rest! Tea has a very soothing quality that is very difficult to find in anything else that isn’t illegal. As the old Irish proverb which is thrown around on Facebook a lot says “If a cup of tea and a good sleep can’t fix it you’re fucked”. And you would wonder why we are known as the land of saints and scholars.

Wine. The next thing on my list with very soothing qualities is this magnificent invention. Wine is my favourite pastime, I remember my very first sip when my mom let me have a taste at dinner when I was about 10, it was terrible. My face contorted in disgust and I vowed I would never drink wine again, ah the innocence of the youth. Wine is an amazing concoction, it gives me the ability to believe I am significantly greater than everyone else when I am in fact after spending my week’s money for dinner on a bottle of white but which did I really need more? Coming from a group of up and coming wine connoisseurs I love nothing more than meeting up with my friends on a lazy day, heading to one of our favourite places in town and ordering a glass or five of Sauvignon Blanc and watching the world go by, content with everything. I think once you begin to like the taste of wine you can never go back, you are just hooked and your life will continue to improve from then on in.

Books. Since I can remember I have loved books. Every single kind of book, bound in leather, a paper back, a fairy tale everything. When I was younger my dad would read to me every night before I went to sleep and would get me to read at least one paragraph, we would read anything from The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann to a huge big encyclopaedia which he made sure we read at least once a week which had everything from why we dream at night to the diet of a stegosaurus in it. I love books so much because nobody can tell you how to see the characters or the world, it’s all in your head and you concoct this image of what this person will look like and what colour their room will be and if their voice will be raspy or soft. I love that, I love opening up an old book and being transported back to that world and seeing it all over again, like Count Olaf’s manor or the mysterious island with the MeerKats in Life Of Pi. Books are brilliant because you can just devour them and they affect you in a way nothing else can, they can make you laugh and cry in equal hysteria and you can just leave this world and step into another one for a while and meet all of these new people and learn all of these amazing life lessons by the hands of a paper back.

Movies. I am a movie buff. I watch trailer upon trailer on YouTube and make lists of all the movies I have to see. My best friend Niamh purchased a book of 500 Movies You Have to See Before You Die and I had seen precisely 304 of them. Movies don’t do the same thing that books do, they show you what they show you and this can back fire easily but when they get it right? Oh they get it right. When Harry first saw Hogwarts was it not spectacular? When Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank were you not exhilarated? When Forrest said goodbye to Jenny by her grave did your heart not ache? When Sheriff Brody said “We’re Gonna need a bigger boat” did you not squeal at the nail-biting tension? Movies are beautiful and fantastic. Like books they transport you to a different world. Through the acting, the cinematography, the music it all creates this undeniable atmosphere. When Peter and Wendy dance with the fairies J.M. Barrie’s book it is beautiful but when they dance in the movie with that gentle waltz playing in the background it is magical. I don’t know if I’m just crazy about escapism but I love them, I love absolutely everything about them to a crazy degree that I get excited just talking about them so much so that my head starts to spin. They are so inspiring and beautiful that I feel like I could be here for hours writing about how much I adore them but I won’t because I must go on.

Humour/Sarcasm. I honestly don’t know where I would be without humour. This whole blog wouldn’t exist for sure anyway. I try to keep things light and I do this through humour, I am a number one culprit of cracking a joke when things get to serious, or brushing things off with a little comment and I know that’s probably not the best thing but it is the truth I’m afraid. The idea of going a whole day without laughing seems so morbid to me that I don’t even like thinking about it. I am extremely fortunate however to have found some of the strangest wise cracking assholes the world has to offer to spend my days with so that happens very rarely. Humour is so brilliant because it takes many different forms, I for example am extremely if not excessively sarcastic so much so that when I moved into my apartment for college one of my roommates recently told me “I actually just thought you were kind of rude on the first week because you don’t change your tone of voice when you make a joke, I’m still not really sure sometimes”.  Now I know this isn’t the nicest thing to be told but it’s true, I can see how someone would think I’m just being snarky. But I think sarcasm and wit are beautiful things, nothing will get me to erupt into laughter quite like a well-placed dry comment. However I do like a bit of blatant humour also. Bringing it back to movies for a moment I don’t think I will ever not laugh at the moment in James Franco and Seth Rogan’s Pineapple Express when Red hits his head off that sink. Humour is brilliant in all its glory because it brings an air of fun to every situation and when you find your humorous soul mate your life will never be the same again.

New Socks. Honestly if I had the money to I would wear a new pair of socks every day for the rest of my life. There is simply no kind of comfort quite like coming out of the shower and opening up a packet of brand new, soft, sparkling new socks and putting them on your feet.

Music. Music is amazing. Music really does make you feel electric, it awakens every nerve ending and courses through your veins and gives the physical reaction which is scientifically (and I have googled this) known as goose bumps. Acoustic versions of songs are released just to make people cry and studio productions are released for blaring in your car and screaming along nonsensically. It just makes you feel like you’re alive and you’re young and you’re invincible. Music has a funny way however of imprinting itself on memories like hearing a song from the past will transport you right back to that moment, this has both its graces and its flaws. For example when I listen to Kid Rocks All Summer Long I’m brought back to a time of being fifteen, lying out in the sun drinking cider in the park with my friends without a care in the world but I still can’t listen to Lyyke Li’s Deep Sea Baby without feeling nauseous after hearing that on the day of the funeral of a loved one. But music really does keep you going, singing is such a release even if you sound terrible and finding a person with the same music taste as you is just perfection. Listening to that song over and over and over again until you play it to absolute extinction and then finding it again a few months later and falling for it all over again is a fundamental rule of life. Music is beautiful and funny and heart breaking but it really does remind you that you’re alive and you’re not alone because someone has obviously felt how you feel if they wrote that melancholy little ballad and someone has obviously been in love if the used all major chords and danced over all those notes. Gene Kelly was obviously smitten when he sang in the rain so music does speak to everyone (I’m nearly ill over how cringey that post just got).

I’m happy about a lot of things and these are just a few of them. These are some of the things that make my heart flutter, make my toes tingle or just make me content with my everyday life.