My dog's leash got away from me during a walk in the morning, and as a result I was able to spend a few minutes talking to the owners of the dogs that she ran up to. Always great to make new connections in the community.

I spent the morning helping a neighbor put his belongings into storage while he goes to California to nail down a job. There is simply nothing that makes me feel as good as the chance to do some compassionate service for another. It was a bonus that I was able to get some of my other neighbors involved.

St George summer heat can be a challenge. Day after day of 100+ degrees and little to no shade can wear on the psyche and be hard on the physique: personally, I have more trouble exercising in the summer down here than I do in the winter, simply because I know I have to be out in the relentless sun. One fleck of gold that I have neglected to mention in the latest posts are the two days of clouds and rain that we have gotten - much needed respite for me. Yesterday was also my day to swim for exercise. I took great pleasure in dropping into the water and feeling a chill run all over my skin. My mile in the water had me feeling better and refreshed, moreso that I have felt in many days.

The internet in my home also was having trouble yesterday morning so I took the rare opportunity to leave my office and work from elsewhere. I spent four or five hours at my in-laws and it was refreshing to be part of the hustle and bustle around that house. It was their 32nd anniversary and it was fun to watch them get themselves ready for a day of climbing and travel together.

Lastly, we got the chance to take our two oldest girls to watch When You Wish, a musical montage of Disney favorites. Tuacahn theater here in St George is a beautiful outdoor amphitheater. Our seats were pretty high up in the bowl, and off to one side, but we got lucky - they were right underneath the fans that blow down onto the audience! As a result, while others down close I'm sure were sweating, we enjoyed the show from a bit farther up and with a light breeze on us all the time. It was a great show and lots of fun to see my two oldest girls get excited at their favorite songs and princesses.

The ride home and subsequent tuckings in reminded me of the fun times I would have with my mom when I was young - as a high school teacher, she would make great efforts to gather student tickets to operas, plays, symphonies, and when there was an extra, she would take me along. I have fond memories of those evenings and feel my life is greatly enriched by having the opportunity to be exposed to all that culture. My favorite times were driving home with my mom, often long past my bedtime, discussing what we liked about the performance. I never minded having to get up for school the next morning; I was always able to carry those good feelings through with me to the next day.

Yesterday morning I went with a neighbor of mine to perform ordinances at the LDS Temple in St George, Utah. Neither of us had very much  time so we just did about 45 minutes' worth of work, but it was wonderful to start our day aligning ourselves with what we consider important in our lives, both physical and spiritual. Regardless of one's faith, starting a day in this way is a great way to begin.

In the afternoon, I again chose to leave work a few minutes early and join my wife and family at the gym for her afternoon weight lifting class. I hadn't had a chance to exercise in the morning and so I was feeling a buildup of anxiety and frustration that comes from being cooped up in my office for most of the day, and it felt great to push my body as hard as I could for an hour to release all of that tension. Exercise releases endorphins, and people with a lot of endorphins have better days. Or so I have come to believe.

For dinner, we made spaghetti with our girls. I ate some salad, and was feeling a bit hungry still and so fixed myself a small bowl of noodles. I looked in the fridge and to my delight found that we still had some basil pesto, which I greatly prefer over red sauce. It was an extra joy, however small, to an already pleasant moment of dinner with my family.

I had my usual Tuesday pizza lunch date with a friend of mine. The pizza joint that we go to is always good, but this day I decided to reach a bit out of my boundaries and go back to an old classic - the Hawaiian pizza. Scoff if you like, but this one was delicious. They put a smattering of sweet barbecue sauce on top of everything, which was new for me, but made all the difference. Good food with friends is always worth a few bucks and an hour away from the office.

Later in the afternoon, my family had gone to the city pool. I was only going to be able to join them for about the last 45 minutes that the pool was open, so I told them I might not come. A few minutes before I had told myself I would go, I got involved in a creative project that I'm very excited about. I have recently been blocked creatively about this project, so when I started to make some good strides forward, I became motivated and decided that I might not go after all. However, I told myself that I had spent enough time alone in the office, so I threw on my swimsuit and went. Though we only got about 30 minutes together, I had a wonderful time swimming with my beautiful girls, much better than time alone. And today, I still feel the creative charge of yesterday.

On Monday of this week, a neighbor brought us a bag of cookies for really no reason at all. They were delicious.

My wife and I stayed up late two nights in a row, even though both of us had to get up early the next morning. The first night, we broke from our usual pattern and turned on an old stand up comedy routine that we liked, and both of us laughed until we cried. Last night we ended up just talking about family, faith, life, the state of our family, until just about midnight. It was wonderful to feel that close to the most important person in my life.

This morning I woke up inexplicably at 4:30 in a state of mild panic - all of the hair on my arms and neck was standing on end, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to stick to my guns and go for my weekly bike ride with my brother in law up to Sand Hollow reservoir and back. In an effort to push the anxiety away, I pushed up the steep hill as fast as I could and I ended up beating my personal best time by a whole minute. The anxiety receded.

Introduction

This is an attempt to gather small moments of joy in my life and document them for posterity.

During the California gold rush, a miner with little experience was panning through the river. After a few days of frustration, he was about to give up, sell his equipment, and move back home to his old life.

An old miner, with a small, bulging sack attached to his belt, came up to the new miner.

"There's no gold in this river! I have wasted my time, money and efforts," said the young miner.

"There is indeed gold in this river, you just have to know how to look for it," the old miner replied.

"I have been here for two weeks and have not found a single nugget. I have nothing in my sack to show for my work; how long will it take me to find enough to pay for my time, let alone to fill it as you have done?"

"My sack isn't full of nuggets," said the old miner, and he reached down and opened the bag for the young man to see.

The young man looked into the bag and, to his astonishment, found that it was filled with tiny flecks, not nuggets, as he would have expected.

"You won't find many big nuggets in this river, but it is full of tiny bits of gold, that, if you know how to gather them, will make you rich indeed."

Life, like the river, is full of happiness. It does not often come in large nuggets, as we would hope, but if we know how to recognize, and hold on to, the small flecks that come our way, we can fill our days with richness.


Though I am posting these thoughts on a public forum, I don't expect many, if any, to read them. However as I go through my days and gather the flecks of joy that I see, it is my hope that they will bring richness to anyone who comes across them.