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Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

good news uplifting heartwarming joy

Upworthy's weekly roundup of delights from around the internet.

Hi there, happy, hopeful, helpful, heartwarming humans! And hello hurt, heartbroken humans who are handling helpless and hopeless feelings as well.

Here we are all together on this tiny rock floating through the vastness of space. Most of us are trying to figure out how to use our fleeting time on Earth to make this place a little bit better, while simultaneously being bewildered by those who insist on destruction and chaos.

It can be so easy to let our spirits get bogged down by it all, especially when narcissistic dictators suck all the air out of the room. But no matter what, there are always beacons of light we can turn to for hope—people doing things large and small to better the lives of those around them.

And in moments when those beacons of light and hope are hard to find? Well, we always have silly dog videos to fall back on for a momentary reprieve. What a time to be alive.


As we engage with the push and pull of the positive and the negative, the uplifting and the disheartening, the integration and the disintegration happening in the world, let's always make sure we're making room for joy. We've seen time and again how important moments of beauty and simple pleasures are, even for people hiding out in war zones. These are things that not only help us get through whatever we're going through, but they bring us together around our shared humanity as well.

These weekly roundups of delights from around the internet may not be life-changing, but hopefully, they can help uplift and inspire us all to see the good around us and to make our own little slice of the world, wherever we are, a little better.

A hotline where you can get life advice from kindergarteners? Yes, please. 

The kindergarteners know where it's at and their pure, wholesome wisdom will definitely make you smile. With the "Peptoc" hotline (named for the way the teacher's 6-year-old son spelled "peptalk") students of the Bay Area's West Side Elementary school are making people smile with their words of encouragement. Read the full story here.

You don't have to like basketball to smile at this incredible ending.

I don't even follow college basketball, but this video definitely made me smile. The Wildcats, who haven't won a conference championship in 40 years, were the underdogs coming in. At one point they were down by 15 points to No. 1 ranked South Carolina, then pulled this out in the end. Amazing coaching and great teamwork.

Forager Alexis Nikole making wisteria syrup is just pure delight.

@alexisnikole

WISTERIA SYRUP 💜💗 #wisteria

All of Alexis Nikole's foraging videos are delightful, but this week she was in Los Angeles and brought home some fresh wisteria blossoms to make syrup. She shares hilarious, educational videos about foraging on her TikTok channel and is definitely worth a follow. Learn more about her here.

Dogs rushing out to play—but wait for the crash at the end.

I mean, watching the dogs run with the epic music is fun in and of itself. But the slo-mo crash is too hilarious (assuming the doggo is okay—I imagine it looked more dramatic than it actually was).

More and more people's loved ones who've passed are being taken out for "one last wave."

The One Last Wave Project was begun by surfer Dan Fischer as a kind deed for people who have lost loved ones who loved the ocean. He offered to write the loved ones' names on his surfboard to take the out for "one last wave," and the response was so great, he now has multiple boards with thousands of names of people who have passed. Learn more about how the project originated and grew here.

This dog's reaction to a lemon slice is hilarious.

So. Much. Drama. The growl. The head toss.The flopping back in disgust. Silly doggo.

Mom shares her son's love of his 'big hair.'

Scroll through to see how excited and proud this kiddo was on his first day of preschool. Love to see hair love.

On a similar note, check out this heartwarming note from a daughter to her mom.

Imagine if all kids grew up with such positive feelings about how they look. What a gift.

A beautiful moment of reconnection in a coffee shop. (Yay for healthcare workers.)

Imagine running into the doctor who helped save your life while you're out getting coffee. Imagine being a doctor, running into the person whose life you helped save and seeing them thriving. Imagine being someone in that coffee shop witnessing that reunion. Just beautiful, all around.

Our moments of connection don't have to be that life-altering to have an impact, though. Even giving a stranger a compliment or going out of our way to make someone's day in some way can make more of a difference than we know. We can all share a smile. Pass along some encouragement. Be the reason someone feels a bit lighter and brighter today.

Hope this week's list brought you some joy! Join us again next week for more.

Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

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via Google and Freepik

Google's new personal information removal submission page.

In the internet era, the idea of personal privacy is all but a myth. With a few keystrokes just about anyone can get your home address, phone number, email, age and the names of your family members. The fact that this information is readily available puts us all in the dangerous position of being the victim of fraud, stalking and violence.

What makes the situation even worse is that our information was put online without any of our consent.

The good news is that Google just made a big change that gives us all a little more control over our personal information. On April 27, the company announced it will allow anyone to request removals of their personal information from its Search feature.

“Open access to information is a key goal of Search, but so is empowering people with the tools they need to protect themselves and keep their sensitive, personally identifiable information private. That’s why we’re updating our policies to help people take more control of their online presence in Search,” Michelle Chang, Google’s Global Policy Lead for Search, announced on the company’s blog.

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Joy

An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel— written by "Dillon His Self"—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel captured the hearts of his local librarians.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis" (written by "Dillon His Self") in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads "Made in Idho" [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children's section.

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Becca Moore and Raul Torres having margaritas.

Becca Moore is a popular TikToker with over 800,000 followers who's known for her funny, laid-back takes on dating. Like any influencer-type she was at the Coachella music and arts festival in Indio, California recently. While she was at Coachella, she was robbed of her phone, rental car keys and wallet.

“I went to Coachella this weekend and I thought this guy was kinda hitting on me but then he just robbed me,” Becca says at the beginning of her three-minute TikTok video with over 3 million views. After the festival, she was left with no ride, money, or means to get in contact with friends and family. She was stranded in the desert.

Becca’s friend’s hotel called her an Uber so she could get to a local store to buy a new phone. The driver she was incredibly lucky to be connected with was a lot more than a guy with a car in a time of need, he was a guardian angel named Raul Torres from Fresno, California, six hours north of Indio.

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Joy

44 years ago he became her protector after a terrible act. Today, they've been reunited in love.

Betsy and Irv are finally getting the happy ending they deserve. Together.

It’s pretty safe to say that everyone loves a good love story.

There’s a whole genre of music and movies dedicated to the idea of someone being swept off of their feet after circumstances tried to keep them from their true love. Romance novels could single handedly keep public libraries and bookstores afloat. Everyone loves "love" and the story of Betsy and Irv just takes the cake. Betsy Sailor attended Penn State University as a business major, which was almost unheard of in 1978 and Irv Pankey attended the university while playing football. The pair’s paths never crossed, until an unfortunate incident bonded the two forever.

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@SopheAlice/TikTok

Best way to travel, really.

As they say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

This old adage was brought to life in a whole new way after two friends who thought they booked tickets to Budapest, Hungary, instead found themselves heading to Bucharest, Romania.

Just a minor 500-mile difference, but who’s counting?

TikToker @SophAlice posted a video of the pair realizing their mix-up, which went viral and set them off on an impromptu adventure based entirely on the comments they received.
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