There is not a lot to smile about these days. For one, filling up your car’s gas tank costs a small fortune. Somehow, despite the fact we can send people into space, people still end up dying of heart attacks and cancer. This is not the future many of us were promised as children. Things are still pretty terrible. Where are the flying cars? Where are the pills we can take that will cure every disease out there?
It is important to smile, though, and laughter really is good for your health. For one, it is good for the immune system. If you are cranky, you will likely die earlier than you should have. That is why old sitcoms are so great. They make you laugh, but they don’t irritate you—they are almost as good as medicine. Well, that might not be true—but they certainly can’t hurt.
Here are ten pictures that will almost definitely make you smile and might also make you laugh.
1. The Sleeping Guy
According to a social media user, the guy pictured has insomnia; when his girlfriend sings, though, he falls asleep. That is really very sweet.
He also looks like he is sleeping very soundly. I wish I could sleep like that. He looks like he is at peace. I wonder what she was singing to him.
I would be lying if I said I had never fallen asleep while on the phone with a friend. It isn’t a personal thing, certainly—although a few of my friends can be rather dull. If I don’t care about my own love life, I certainly don’t care about yours.
Why do people think others care about their relationships? Over the years, I have heard so many people complain about their romantic partners. I still have to hear it. I was out for drinks with a female friend lately and she was going on and on. Even the bartender recognized that I literally could not have cared less.
2. The Woman and the Dog
This woman has dementia, and her grandchild is constantly reintroducing her to his dog. She apparently falls back in love with the dog over and over again. That is very sweet.
This story is both happy and sad. The sad part, of course, is that the woman has dementia. No one should have to go through that. The end of one’s life is rarely pleasant, but losing your mind seems like the worst way to go. I would rather have a massive heart attack in my sleep in my 40s or 50s than have to deal with years—possibly decades—of not being myself.
Happily, though, this woman has a grandchild who clearly loves her.
I once worked at a nursing home, and many of them had dementia. There were men and women there who clearly had no one who cared about them anymore. They just sat around in a wheelchair all day being ignored and eating godawful food. It was truly heartbreaking. Once in a while they would scream, and I had no idea for whom or for what they were screaming. They probably didn’t know why they were screaming.
I am not married, nor do I have children, and I am terrified when I think about the end of my life. There will be no one at all to mourn me. I don’t think anyone will even notice that I am gone. That is, perhaps, why the patients in the nursing home were screaming. They must have noticed—even with the dementia—that no one really gave a crap any longer. What a horrible way to end your time on this planet. Still, there are a lot of people who end their lives that way. They just pass after years of suffering.
3. The Husband and the Flowers
This might be the most adorable thing I have ever seen. This guy pretended he had to use the restroom. Instead, he was off buying flowers for his wife. Can you imagine the look on her face when she got the flowers?
I can’t even imagine having that sort of life partner. Those two aren’t exactly spring chickens, if you know what I mean, but the husband clearly acknowledges and respects how lucky he is to have found another person he loved and wanted to spend his life with. In a lot of ways, that’s all you can hope for on this planet. If you can find another human being who you love and also loves you back, you are pretty much the richest person on Earth. A lot of people don’t get to enjoy that. It is sad—but true.
Sadly, I have known only a few couples who have really stood by one another when things got rough. I was actually thrilled to know a couple who was married for well over 60 years. I can’t even imagine what that experience was like. They’re both dead now, but they were definitely still in love at the end.
4. The Store Employee and the Customer
In this case, an employee of a store walked an older woman to her car using an umbrella from the store. Now that is a great example of customer service.
In case you are wondering, the employee apparently worked at J.C. Penney, which is a great chain. It employs almost 100,000 people. It isn’t the fanciest place to shop, but you can definitely find deals there. Personally, I find the clothing to be reasonably priced. I like the shirts they have for sale. Also, it apparently hires nice people.
It really ticks me off when I think about how poorly people in the United States treat the elderly. It is almost like people under the age of forty or so think they’ll never get to the point where they need a hip replacement. They’ll be lucky if they get to that point, frankly; a lot of people aren’t lucky enough to do so.
5. The Guy and His Daughter
The story here is that this guy maintained this particular position for the better part of an hour so that his child could sleep comfortably. That’s a sweet thing to do. I assume that level of selflessness only comes when you have a child of your own.
That said, I have made my sacrifices for small children and small animals. For example, I once bought cookies from a child that came to my door. I didn’t want the cookies, and they were overpriced and kind of gross, and I threw them in the trash immediately. Also, my dog is an enormous pain in the butt. If he decides he wants to take a nap on my arm, though, I will let him do so until I lose all feeling in that arm.
6. The Note On the Windshield
The story behind this this particular image is amusing; an ambulance blocked a car into the driveway, so the owner of that vehicle left some money so that the people who drove the ambulance could have coffees.
I really like that the person who wrote this note pointed out they weren’t going anywhere. They weren’t really being inconvenienced.
It must be irritating to drive an ambulance or fire truck. On the one hand, everyone knows you are performing an important service. On the other hand, everyone is always super irritated by your presence. If you are doing your job, you are inconveniencing other drivers. Also, you are dealing with dying people and buildings that are on fire—which doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. You really can’t win.
7. The Firefighters
These are firefighters on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. They are at a gym, and they are climbing 110 flights of stairs. As you can see, they are in their full gear. They are doing this to honor the firefighters who died during the attacks on New York City.
It is hard to believe that it has been over seventeen years since the attacks. There are kids who are seniors in high school who were just babies—or weren’t even born—when the attacks occurred. They will never really understand what a traumatic time it was for the United States. Thousands of people died in just one day. My uncle lived and worked in the New York City area at the time—still does—and he was definitely pretty traumatized.
I actually went to the place where Flight 93 crashed. It was pretty moving. While tragic, the story of the passengers on that plane is pretty inspiring. If it weren’t for them, there’s a good chance the US would be missing either its Capitol or the White House. Either way, it would have been really bad for the country.
One of the people who died during the 9/11 attacks was David Angell. If you’re not familiar with the man, he was a staff writer on the sitcom “Cheers”. He was also one of the creators of “Wings” and “Frasier”. There is a reason that the characters of Niles and Daphne on “Frasier” named their newborn son David.
8. The Zoo Wedding
I love that the bear is watching the wedding. He looks positively riveted. He also might be thinking about eating the bride, which would be a tragic end to a lovely day.
Who gets married at a zoo, though? That seems like a curious choice. Maybe they are both veterinarians.\
Fortunately for the bride, bear attacks are relatively rare. If you encounter a hungry polar bear, you might be doomed, but you are unlikely to encounter one of them unless you live in very specific areas. Brown bears are relatively harmless in most cases. They will likely avoid you as long as they don’t feel threatened. Really, bears don’t pose nearly as much of a threat as people think they do. I’m not suggesting you don’t take precautions if you’re on a hike in an area where bears are known to hang out, but the chances of your dying as a result of a bear attack are pretty small.
9. The Father and the Daughter
These pictures were taken years apart, obviously, but the loving look shared between the two is practically identical. I am assuming that, in the second picture, the daughter is on her way to the prom or some other formal dance. It would be weird if she dressed like that every day of the week.
People who are always dressed up and looking their best irritate me. It is always weird when I watch a sitcom from the 1950s or 1960s and the men are in suits while at home. Why would you intentionally wear a suit when you are at home with your kids? Why would you keep your tie on? Those things aren’t terribly comfortable.
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