simple pleasures

If you know me, you know I'm not exactly spontaneous.

I dillydallied for four years in college in MA, away from Yankee games on television. Was it worth it to invest in MLB video, so I could watch the games online? 79.95 for the season seemed prohibitive. Would I watch? I went back and forth, back and forth. I caught a couple games on ESPN, but I was home for most of the season anyway. And I sort of forgot about it...

But today was the Yankee home opener, and I'll be damned if I was going to miss it. Of course, you could watch the Red Sox on 3 different channels here, but the Yankees were nowhere to be found. Now that I'm faced with potentially being in an enemy state (i.e. the Red Sox Nation) for the next year, I decided I just needed to get over it. Grabbed the credit card. Bought a season's subscription to MLB radio online, to hear the (nasal) voice of Suzyn Waldman and the (reassuringly wonderful) voice of John Sterling. Never have I felt so pleased to hear Suzyn make herself sound utterly devoid of any baseball knowledge. Never have I more appreciated John's "Der-ek Jeet-er" chant upon his 3-run homer.

And it got me thinking of simple pleasures. Listening to the Yankees on the radio reminds me of summer, sand, peanut shells. My brother. My dad. My grandpa. The pond. The beach.

My friend L buys herself a bouquet of flowers and a big fat, ice cream cone every Friday afternoon. It's her reward to herself for getting through the week. And she says this little ritual makes her incredibly happy.

I think I need to make myself happier more often, instead of waiting for other people to do it for me. Even if that does sound pretty hokey...