{"id":304,"date":"2012-08-14T01:21:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T01:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=304"},"modified":"2012-08-14T01:21:37","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T01:21:37","slug":"3-things-81312","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=304","title":{"rendered":"3 Things – 8\/13\/12"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have had many things this last two weeks that have brought big smiles to me and my family; so, I\u2019ve had a difficult time choosing how to narrow this down to just three items. \u00a0But I think that I have finally figured out which three I want to share.<\/p>\n

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1. \u00a0Revisiting the past<\/strong> \u2013 not all things bygone are worth a mention and no, not all of the things I remember growing up would bring a smile.\u00a0 Think rainbow sweaters that go from sleeve to sleeve or pinning your blue jeans.\u00a0 But on a road trip with some friends, I came face to face (well sort of) with an old love from my past.\u00a0 Actually, my old friend was relegated to the top shelf in the convenience store cooler. You know the shelf where store-brand colas, Yoo-hoo\u2019s, and that milk product that doesn\u2019t actually need refrigeration sit.\u00a0 There among the other \u201cless popular\u201d beverage choices sat a blast from my past \u2013 Pop Shoppe sodas.\u00a0 I was immediately carried back to when my family first left the South and moved to Valley City, North Dakota where you could mix-n-match of case of sodas. Of course, now the pop has its own website www.popshoppe.com<\/a>, unlike when our friendship began in the early 80\u2019s. If you have a few minutes, check out the website and have yourself a chuckle at the humor found within.\u00a0 I enjoyed every sip of my root beer thinking back to the days of playing balloon volleyball in the basement for hours on end.\u00a0 With every memory that came flooding back from those days, my face was carrying a great big smile.<\/p>\n

2. Visiting old friends<\/strong>\u2013 this is actually a play on words.\u00a0 Last week I was able to return<\/p>\n

\n
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Huck<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

(FINALLY) to my volunteer position at the Minneota Manor (nursing home) with my faithful sidekick, Huckleberry.\u00a0 Actually, I am the sidekick\u00a0(because he is much more popular there than I am) as Huck\u00a0makes his rounds and visits his friends.\u00a0 I love to see the spring in\u00a0the old boy’s\u00a0steps as soon as he sees me get out a bandanna scarf (of which he has quite a collection).\u00a0 Huck has his favorite people\u00a0and as soon as we arrive he has to go visit at least one of them. He has always been a special dog, but I think as he gets older he recognizes a kindred spirit when he sees one. \u00a0I am glad that Huck takes me along because there is one special grandpa there that has held my heart for a long time.\u00a0 On his good days (when the dementia isn\u2019t so bad), he recognizes me (or at least, Huck), and then even my heart smiles!<\/p>\n

3. Taking a last minute vacation<\/strong> \u2013 last Friday, our family took a last minute vacation to go to the zoo and to go back-to-school (shudder) shopping.\u00a0 We had made a promise to the smallest Stevens to let her see dolphins this summer.\u00a0 Sadly, we learned that the dolphin bay at the zoo would be closing down soon due to lack of funding.\u00a0 Nonetheless, we enjoyed the dolphins, but we relished<\/strong><\/em> our time with the dinosaurs\u2019 exhibit.\u00a0 Gladly, the dinosaurs were life-sized recreations that were robotic and somewhat interactive.\u00a0 All of my kids have taken strolls through the \u201cLand before Time\u201d series, and we have shared a love of dinosaurs for many years. \u00a0I am certain this won\u2019t be our last foray with dinosaurs (having dug for mammoths in South Dakota and visited Sue in Chicago\u2019s Field Museum).\u00a0 Somehow just being together sans technology (thank you Minnesota Zoo for having terrible cell phone coverage) was what this momma\u2019s heart needed.\u00a0 Watching our little Sally Gal have the same reactions to the dinosaurs that our once little red-head did at a similar dinosaur attraction brought tears to my eyes.\u00a0 Knowing that that same red-head had to be looking on with pride from Heaven \u2013 definitely made me smile!<\/p>\n

Whatever it is, BIG or small, find the things that make you smile!\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have had many things this last two weeks that have brought big smiles to me and my family; so, I\u2019ve had a difficult time choosing how to narrow this down to just three items. \u00a0But I think that I have finally figured out which three I want to share. 1. \u00a0Revisiting the past \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[156,161,206,302,417,452,487,571],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}