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10 things that made us smile this week

10 things that made us smile this week

Welcome to Upworthy's weekly roundup of joy and delight.

Um, how is it February already? Despite January feeling like it had 172 days, February feels like it arrived all of a sudden. Pandemic time is so trippy. (Is the pandemic still happening? The data certainly says so, but a whole lot of people have decided "no," which is probably why we've all become obsessed with a simple word game. Weeeee!)

It's also Friday, which means it's time for another roundup of delights from around ye ol' interwebs. Woohoo! Each week, we pull together a list of things that we all can enjoy no matter who we are, where we live, what we ate for breakfast or how we feel about people sharing their Wordle results. Just tiny packages of pure, happy things to boost our endorphins.

This week we have epic dance moves, hilarious kids, heartwarming reunions and awesome animals to lift our spirits. Isn't it funny how reliable arts and kids and animals are for bringing us joy?


So if you've got the winter doldrums, are stuck in COVID quarantine or could just use a little pick-me-up, we've got you covered. Buckle up and enjoy!

Watch this dance troupe get funky to James Brown on Lunar New Year.

@danceon

We’re feeling good and ready to have a funky time 🎶💃🕺 #Moga_almeri

We kicked off the week celebrating Lunar New Year with this awesome video. The formation, the outfits, the moves—it's all here. Year of the tiger, bring it on.

Speaking of dance moves, this little girl has 'em—and the spunk to match.

Oh my goodness, that face and those moves. This little girl at a Chinese dance competition seems to have the spirit of Latin dance flowing right through her veins. She's feeling it and it shows.

Speaking of feeling it in competition, this doggo was just supposed to come over and sit.

Puppers had one job, but decided that job needed some flair. Give this doggo all the prizes, please.

A dad filmed his daughter every week for two decades to create a 5-minute time lapse.

This sounds like such a simple idea on paper, but to actually carry it out is an incredible feat. It's also incredibly moving to watch for any parent. A wonderful gift from Dutch filmmaker Frans Hofmeester to his daughter, Lotte. Read the full story here.

An 8-year-old snuck his handmade book onto the library shelf and now it has a huge waiting list.

Dillon Helbig wanted his book in the library, so he just made it happen.

KTVB/Upworthy

Dillon Helbig had wanted to have a book in the library since he was 5, so he left his homemade graphic novel on the shelf. The librarians found it and put it into circulation, and now it has a years-long waiting list. Such a great example of adults supporting kids in their creativity. Read the full story here.

Mom films daughter asking if she lived in colonial times, and every parent has been there.

Kids don't have a good grasp of time when they're young, which can make for some hilarious inquiries and assumptions. The innocence of this kid's questions is just classic.

Jimmy Kimmel made Quinta Brunson cry by surprising her with her beloved sixth-grade teacher.

The teachers who make an impact in our lives are never forgotten. This exchange between "Abbott Elementary" creator Quinta Brunson and the teacher she named the show after is just pure love. Read the full story here.

Speaking of love, these guys offered people $5 to call someone and tell them they love them.

@toachieveyou

Why do you guys think they turned down the money? | idea from @areyoukiddingtv ❤️ | @ledariusjoshua @brandnrode @kye_man

The challenge was sweet, but the responses afterward were even better. Read the full story here.

Watch Hector the hummingbird land on a man's finger to eat. 

Hector the hummingbird. That's just too much. There's something so magical about hummingbirds, and we don't often get to see them this close to a human. (Side note: Have you ever had a hummingbird fly right by your ear? It's so loud. That wing flapping is no joke.)

Penguin groups meet up and one of them gets confused. But don't worry—his friend's got his back. 

What a muppet, indeed. You can practically narrate this entire video in your head as you're watching it, can't you? "Um, Chuck? We're going this way, pal." So hilarious.

Hope you enjoyed this week's roundup of happy things! Come back next week to share more snippets of goodness and joy. :)

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

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Dog does the 'pick a card' challenge and it's adorable.

There are a few kinds of dog parents: ones that only have outside dogs, those who have inside dogs but they're absolutely not allowed on the furniture and dog parents who treat their dog as if they birthed them themselves and give them every luxury invented for four-legged fur children.

Clearly, people are going to have feelings one way or the other about dogs and their place within a household, but I think everyone can agree that seeing a dog be pampered will always be adorable. Opie the Pit Bully is one of those lucky doggos who wound up living in the lap of luxury, and the pooch got to do a "pick a card" day to showcase that his owner loves him the mostest.

In a video uploaded to TikTok by Opie's owner because...ya know, opposable thumbs and all…Opie is faced with two cards that he can't read: 1) because he's a dog, and 2) because the cards are facing toward the camera. That doesn't stop the sweet puppers from playing along, though.

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A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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Photo by David Cadenas on Unsplash

What we imagine the look on Mr/ Pickles' face to be after becoming a dad.

It’s been an exciting time for a couple of tortoises at the Houston Zoo—and really, for tortoises everywhere.

The zoo announced on its blog that their oldest resident, Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (that’s quite an age gap there sir, but no judgment) recently welcomed three new hatchlings.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, here are the new baby names: Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño.

Clearly, Jalepeño is the spicy one of the bunch.

While this news is certainly momentous for Mr. and Mrs. Pickles, it’s also a huge achievement for the entire species, which is currently critically endangered.
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Grace Linn, 100, speaks at a Martin County School Board meeting on March 21, 2023.

Four hundred years ago, copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible were publicly burned by the bishop of London, with church authorities insisting that the Bible should only be read in Latin (and only by the clergy). In the centuries since, many books we now consider classics such as Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," Jack London's "Call of the Wild," Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass," Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables, Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species"—even Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Benjamin Bunny"—have been banned or censored in one way or another in various countries.

Battles over books are nothing new, but once in a while, they become particularly ugly or absurd, prompting people to speak out against book bans.

People like 100-year-old Florida resident, Grace Linn, whose speech at a Martin County School Board meeting has gone viral.

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The Tonight Show/ Youtube

Jennifer Aniston appearing on "The Tonight show"

Let’s face it, platonic relationships between men and women rarely get the same amount of attention as romantic ones, to the point where we debate whether or not they can actually exist in the first place.

That’s what makes a clip of Jennifer Aniston gushing about her decades-long friendship with Adam Sandler so cool to watch. There’s no Harry-Met-Sally-ing here, just one pal talking about another pal.

Aniston sat down with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film “Murder Mystery 2,” starring both Aniston and Sandler, but the conversation quickly veered into several anecdotes about “The Sand Man,” including how the two first met at a deli in their 20s.

As with any healthy friendship, there’s plenty of ragging on each other.

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