My Grown-up Christmas Wish

Every Christmas I hear people saying what they want for Christmas. And every year, the advertisers bombard us with ads for things they think we should want.

This was a big deal when I was a kid. All the kids in my family, all three of us, had a list of things we hoped Santa would bring us. And on Christmas Day and the day after, we would excitedly tell our friends and cousins what we got for Christmas. And although we attended church services, Christmas was all about the presents we got.

I left childhood behind decades ago, and I no longer wish for material things. I have everything I want and everything I need. So here is my new, grown up Christmas wish list. 

l want people who are sick with no cure to be able to be cured. I want children with no families to be adopted. I want people to never have to worry about food and shelter and heat. I want an end to war and to discrimination and to murder. I want people to live in peace. I want people to wake up and realize that planet Earth is our only home, and we need to start taking care of it. I want it into child abuse, and to animal abuse and to elder abuse. I want a homeless to have a safe place to live. I want all the homeless and unwanted animals to become part of families that will cherish, love and care for them.

This, friends, is my grown-up Christmas wish.

Simple Joys

I saw a video recently of a dog realizing that the man in the distance was his 'dad,' who had been away on a long military deployment.

The dog was nervous at first, but once he realized who the man was, he was beside himself with joy.

That made me think about how most dogs live their lives ... full of simple joys. Rolling in the grass. Sniffing a new odor. Going for a walk. Greeting a new person, or an old friend. Chasing a ball. Waking up and giving a big stretch. Drooling at the scent of something tasty. Enjoying, however briefly, their meal.

Maybe we humans don't have the same level of enjoyment when smelling a new odor, but we can find our own simple pleasures. Who among us can resist the smell of bread fresh from the oven? I love the smell of the outdoors, especially the smell of a pine forest. Unfortunately, I lost most of my ability to smell (and taste) several years ago due to an upper respiratory infection (before covid). But every so often I am able to smell something cooking or to weakly taste a special food. So I understand the joys of having these two senses. So I can only imagine what it must be like to have a sense of smell 10,000 times greater than we mere humans have.

Volumes have been written about domestic dogs. On some level, they seem rather simple. Their joy is simple and uncomplicated, But really, dogs are remarkable creatures, with abilities we can't begin to imagine. 

I recently heard that a drug-detecting dog can detect one drop of an illegal drug in the equivalent of 25 Olympic-size swimming pools. Other dogs can detect hidden currency or people. Some can alert a person to an upcoming seizure or low blood sugar. Some even are reported to detect the presence of the virus that causes covid.

These dogs are rewarded for their detection with lots of excited praise and a chance to grab their favorite toy for a few minutes of play. The special toy is brought out only after a successful detection.

Sometimes we humans have to schedule our joys, an outing to a favorite outdoor spot, for example. But it's important to do things, even if we have to schedule them, that bring us joy.

As a lowly human, I've been thinking about things that bring me joy. I love spending time outdoors, traveling, taking photographs, reading, writing, and taking a nap on a cold day.

What are your simple joys?