I've decided that now might be a good time to come up with a general purpose for this blog. I've actually been thinking about this for a while, and an idea came to me suddenly on day when I was writing a letter. I have this friend who is living in Japan at the moment and I write him letters whenever it strikes my fancy or whenever I happen to have time. In most of my letters I like to add a section titled: Random Happy Thoughts. This, I admit, is one of my favorite parts of writing these letters, and I don't think he really minds it either. As I was writing this section the other day I had the brilliant idea of expanding it into a blog-like genre, so here we are. From now on this blog will be entirely about happy thoughts from yours truly, and I'm pretty excited about that!
My happy thought for today is exact change. I had the blessing of being able to go to an ice cream shop today with two of my friends. This is a blessing for two reasons. Reason number one: I had time to be with my friends. Reason number two: I had money to go to an ice cream shop. Oh, the simple joys of college life!
Anyway, as I went to pay for my one scoop of 'Praline Pecan' (which is redundant, by the way) ice cream and the cashier told me that my total was $2.25 I realized the joy of having exact change. I happened to have two dollar bills and a quarter waiting patiently in my wallet at that very moment, and as I reached in and pulled them out and handed them to the cashier I recieved the glow that only a small, simple miracle can bring you.
Exact change is awesome for several reasons. Firstly, it makes your life easier. You don't have to worry about getting a ton of change back, and having to carry it around in your purse all the time. Also, paying with cash always feels a bit more honest to me, and having exact change is almost as convenient as using a debit or credit card, which is a double pro if you ask me.
Secondly, it makes the cashier's life easier. Have you ever been a cashier? I have, and I know how that moment when you're getting their change for them can feel like a millenium if you're in a hurry. You know, that moment when everything but your hands seems to go in fast-forward while your fingers fumble and shake in slow-motion? Yeah, it's not a fun feeling, especially when the person you're trying to help is being impatient about it. This is another reason why exact change is so awesome, because it completely eliminates that moment from the transaction. You give your money to the cashier, they put it in the register, moment over. Convenient, huh?
And finally, exact change is happy because it puts the stamp of approval on your purchase. For instance, I was feeling a little bad about buying ice cream because it's unhealthy and it's a little extravagant, but having the exact change I needed for it was like divine providence saying, "Hey, it's ok to buy this ice cream. You deserve it." Having exact change is like destiny saying that this moment was meant to be, because everything worked out perfectly. That's right, that ice cream tasted better because it had the sparkle of hope for a perfect future. Everything in my life before had led up to this moment, and everything in my life after would just fall in to place because of it.
Yes, exact change made me happy today, and I hope that exact change will make you happy from now on, because when you think about it, it's pretty joyful.
Have a wonderful day. You deserve it!
