This morning I smiled all the way into town. And not because Myer is having the galaxy’s biggest stock-take sale or because I was eating a box of chocolates.
It was due to the vehicle I was tailing - a fair dinkum donkey ambulance.
Truly ruly!
It was cream with a big red cross and old-fashioned blue writing saying ‘Donkey Ambulance’. What’s not to love?
By the time the donkey ambulance and I had parted ways, I had dreamt up a whole story about a veterinarian (called Dr Betty) who drives around the countryside looking for donkeys in distress. Upon finding ailing donkeys (which are surprisingly common), Dr Betty gives some quick field treatment, then rushes the grateful creatures back to her donkey hospital in her donkey ambulance, the siren blaring all the way. This story played out in my mind accompanied by Richard Scary illustrations. So cute! It made my day and I am still chuckling that there is a real life donkey ambulance zipping around central Victoria.
This made me realise that so many of the great joys in my day are created by simple sights and small oddities. In the last few days, these things have put a lilt in my step, a song in my heart, a chuckle in my chest:
- A discussion about rosella jam - it sounds really cruel to native parrots but is really made from a funny little fruit that grows on a rosella bush in my aunt’s backyard. (Truly! Don’t ring the RSPCA!).
- The sight of my friend dressed as a French onion seller for a party.
- Olive’s delight at bringing her favourite dead galah fifty metres closer to home on yesterday’s walk.
- Seeing a new word - oxter - and thinking it meant something sophisticated when it just means the armpit!
- A photo of a Mongolian toddler holding a goat.
- My two year old neighbour calling me a ratbag.
All simple. All delightful. All smile-worthy.
I wonder, what has put a song in your heart today?
