There are little things we do that get us through the day.

A bite a chocolate in the afternoon. A cup of tea, or a stiff shot of espresso.

A conversation with a friend, a favorite blog; a little bad teevee or a gossip magazine.

Sometimes it’s something good for us – a run, or a workout at the gym, a basketball game with friends. Sometimes it’s not so good; too much to drink, drugs. We smoke too much pot or snort something or swallow something for pain when the pain isn’t physical; we go for the bottle and crawl inside because it feels safe in there.

Sometimes it’s simple pleasures; cooking or putting the kids to bed, doing something just for oneself, doing something that’s easy to finish and mark off as complete.

That’s what blogging is for a lot of us, I think. Something to help get through the day. Someone to talk to, someone to listen. In many ways a tribe, a group, a gang to belong to. Someone to listen to you with that bizarre intimacy faceless communication provides.

Some days though, you need a little extra. More than what gets you through. More than your drug of choice or your social ritual, your little tasks, your daily entertainments. Some days you just need something good to happen out of the blue.

The littlest things sometimes – a compliment where you don’t expect it, a little affection, a lucky break. A streak of productivity.

I wish there was a magic elixir; something in precious finite supply; a drop to produce those good moments when you need them, those lucky turns, those tiny gifts of good fortune. I’m not greedy though; that’s why even in my fantasy, it’s a tiny supply, not to be wasted.

Good things come out of the blue too rarely in life. for this reason I try to be honest with people; honest and free with my praise and my compliments. I want to be the person who makes someone’s day, the compliment out of the blue. I’ve been known to say “you smell good” to a stranger, to tell people who look fantastic that they look fantastic, for no reason other than that they made me smile. I try to leave the unexpectedly large tip, to thank the people who do thankless work. When something good comes, unexpected and unasked, unhoped and unsolicited, it makes one’s world better in tiny ways.

Unexpected pleasures are, nearly always, the sweetest.