Things that are just nice
Last week, I videochatted with a friend who I hadn’t spoken to in quite a while. He and I met during our freshman year of high school, dated for a hot second, and became neighbors when my mom and I moved to a house down the street from his family. He got his driver’s license before I did and so I convinced him to give me rides to school for several months. This could have been awkward considering the dating and the breaking up and the general awkardness of being 16, but instead we leaned into the friendship. We started referring to each other as “BFF” and pretended we had a closer connection than we did until, eventually, we did have a close connection. At least, this is how I remember it. We’ve never compared notes on our origin story.
When we were in high school, his family had a chihauhau named Chloe. About four years ago, E and I visited my BFF in New York and I was delighted to discover that, not only was Chloe still alive and well, she lived with my BFF in New York. I had a similar experience on the videocall last week when my BFF turned the camera to reveal Chloe sleeping on the couch next to him.
“How old is she now?” I wondered. He told me she’s 17 and that chihauhaus can make it to their twenties.
“Do you want to see some cute clothes we got for her?” He asked. Obviously, I did. He proceeded to put a lion’s mane on her and held her up to the camera so I could see. I loved it and took a screenshot.
We wrapped up our conversation and I forgot about Chloe’s mane until a couple of days later when I clicked on a screenshot saved to my desktop, wondering what it was. The image of my BFF holding Chloe popped up, made me smile and laugh, just as it had when I saw it on the videocall, and I went searching for a digital place to store this treasure. I have a folder on my desktop called “Things that are just nice,” and I dragged the screenshot into it.
I made the “Things that are just nice” folder years ago to be a resource of stuff to look through when I’m feeling down, but I rarely use it. It’s a mix of funny screenshots (like that one of Chloe), motivational art (a triceratops head surrounded by flowers with “breathe” written below it), and links to MBMBAM animatics. My favorite thing in there is a document where I’ve compiled some nice things that people have said to me over the years. It includes part of an email that my BFF sent me after he finished reading a draft of my memoir. His words make me tear up every time I read them.
I’m grateful that my BFF and I videochatted last week for a lot of reasons, including that it helped me rediscover my “Things that are just nice” folder.
If you don’t already have a resource like this, I encourage you to make one. If you do have a resource like this, I encourage you to remember to use it. I’m sure it won’t always help when I’m in a bad mood, but spending time looking at things that make me laugh and feeling grateful for the people in my life never hurts.