You Can't Help But Smile...

It was a day of celebration. And happiness. And love.

Yesterday was the commemoration of our dear friends 71st Anniversary. Yup, you read that right...71 YEARS! And not only did we honor 71 years of marriage, one of them turns 95 tomorrow. They are the sweetest and the most heart-warming couple I have ever been blessed to meet and I am overwhelmed by the love and devotion they still hold for one another. Even after 71 years.

71 years...

This was what consumed my thoughts when I purchased balloons for the festivities. As I left the store and the gentle breeze danced across my face, I looked up and smiled. Here I was crossing a parking lot touting 26 balloons to celebrate two of the dearest people I know. And I couldn't help but smile.

I felt like Audrey running in front of the Arc de Triomphe with a hand-full of balloons in Funny Face. I felt like a little kid bounding through a field. The smiles from those I encountered made me happy for bringing a ray of sunshine to their day. And the joy in my heart from looking into the bright blue sky filled with green and gold balls of helium-filled happiness...well...I couldn't help but smile.

Simple pleasures...

Take a moment in the near future to acquire a big bouquet of balloons. It doesn't matter what you do with them...give one away to anyone you meet until they are gone if you must. But do not delay the utter joy derived from walking in the sunshine with a sky-full of balloons.

And should you meet a 95 year-old man celebrating his 71st wedding anniversary to his soul-mate...then smile and say a prayer of thanks, because truly blessed are you.