Little Surprises in Life...

 Do you ever feel like in this world we live in that there are not many surprises left in life?  We seem to be able to google any fact, watch anything on Youtube and correspond through the phone, e-mail, Facebook and Twitter, just to name a few!  So, sometimes I think there is not anything left to surprise me.

But then, every so often something does come along and just makes me smile.  Nothing big mind you – no lottery check in the mail, no invitation to the Royal wedding last spring, no one stopping by to volunteer to clean my house for the rest of my life!

But the little things in life, aren’t they what make us smile?  I tend to find the little things that make me smile often have to do with friends, family or nature.  Well, that is what happened to me last week. 

For fun this spring, instead of planting geraniums or periwinkles in all of my sunny spots, I planted some ornamental sweet potato plants.  They have risen to the occasion this hot summer and provided me with some wonderful color.  Their beauty without any blooms was well worth their place in the garden.

My little surprise came when I went to water my sweet potato pots one day.  To my amazement I saw a bloom!  Much to my surprise they bloom in late summer – who would have thought.  It was just what I needed to put a smile on my face as I stood in 107 degree heat and watered them for the 50^th day in a row (well, it seemed like it).

I stopped and smiled and thought what a wonderful little treat – a bloom where I thought there would be none!  Isn’t that what makes us smile – little surprises that warm our heart and leave us with a good feeling.

Be that little bloom this Labor Day weekend.  Surprise someone and make them smile – be their little sweet potato!

Julie