My Anywhere But Here Blog

The Quiet Comedy of Life’s Small Joys

(The Ones We Pretend Are Not a Big Deal — But Totally Are)

Life has a quiet sense of humor.

Not the loud kind that announces itself with punchlines or grand gestures.

The quieter kind. The kind that slips into our everyday routines and leaves us smiling at moments we might otherwise overlook.

Some of the small joys in life are so simple we almost hesitate to admit how much we enjoy them.

But if we are honest, they are often the very moments that brighten an ordinary day.

For instance:

• Finding the television remote exactly where you left it.

• The first sip of coffee in the morning when it is somehow exactly the right temperature.

• Opening the refrigerator and discovering leftovers you had completely forgotten about — and suddenly feeling as though the universe has provided dinner.

• Sitting down “just for a minute” and realizing twenty peaceful minutes have quietly passed.

• That small but satisfying moment when you pull into a parking lot and a space opens up right in front.

None of these things would ever make the evening news.

My mother used to pray for a parking space whenever we went somewhere crowded where parking was limited. One time my mother was driving with a neighbor in the car. As they pulled into a parking garage she said softly, “Oh Lord, let there be a spot.”

To my mother’s surprise, there was a space right near the elevators that led up to the restaurant they were going to.

Her neighbor said, “Wow, aren’t you lucky, Bert?”

My mother simply smiled and replied, “Luck wasn’t in it. Prayer was. I prayed for a spot.”

From that point on I always found it funny how we would seem to find a good parking space almost everywhere we went — Shadyside, the mall, sometimes even before a theater performance downtown.

To this day I still laugh because I find myself secretly praying for a spot in crowded parking areas. And nine times out of ten, one opens up.

It is humorous in the sweetest way.

It may not make the six-o’clock news, but every time I step out of the car I find myself smiling and saying a quiet thank you to God for that small moment of joy.

These things may seem insignificant, and yet somehow they make our day lighter.

There is also a certain quiet comedy in the way we move through our days.

• Reheating the same cup of coffee three times because we keep forgetting to drink it.

• Opening the refrigerator more than once as though a completely different meal might magically appear if we check again.

• Standing in the kitchen eating a piece of cheese straight from the refrigerator while pretending this is not actually dinner.

Life, it seems, is full of these tiny scenes.

Little moments that would look rather amusing if someone happened to film them.

And perhaps that is part of the beauty of living.

Not every meaningful moment arrives wrapped in something profound.

Sometimes meaning arrives disguised as something much smaller — a warm drink, a quiet chair, or a small laugh at ourselves.

These tiny joys may not seem like much.

But on ordinary days, they have a way of reminding us;, life is not only meant to be endured.

Sometimes it is simply meant to be enjoyed.

And perhaps that is the quiet joke life shares with us — that the smallest moments are often the ones that make us smile the most.

Even in the smallest ways.

—

Susan Beth Thomas

My Anywhere But Here