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Joy

10 things that made us smile this week

From awesome kiddos to delightful doggos, here's this week's roundup of joy.

10 things that made us smile this week

10 snippets of delight from around the internet.

Hi friends!

Spring is finally springing, thank goodness. We've had some weirdly late wintry weather the past couple of weeks where I live, so seeing the daffodils and tulips bursting into bloom is refreshing. "Earth laughs in flowers," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. So succinct and so true.

Every season carries its own delights; we simply need to look for them. The same goes for all of the spaces we inhabit, from our homes to our communities to the big wide, world. It's a basic, fundamental truth that when we look for joy, we will find it. It might be buried under a bunch of detritus, and we may have to wade through some much and mire to find it, but it's there. Always is and always has been.


Pulling together these smile-worthy finds each week feels like gathering a bouquet of flowers. Such a simple act—to find beauty and take the time to hold and appreciate it—is often underestimated. Maybe it's not earth-shattering or life-changing, but it's good. And sometimes good is more than enough to bring some much-needed joy to our hearts and smiles to our faces.

With that, enjoy these 10 things that made us smile this week:

First, a happy hello from Boomer the "land cloud." 

Isn't "land cloud" the perfect description of this doggo? (And more importantly, how did they get Boomer into that backpack?)

Four cellists play Ravel's Bolero on a single cello and WOW.

"Bolero" is known for its insistent, repeated snare drum rhythm and for building tension with the addition of more and more instruments in the orchestra as the piece progresses. Playing it on one instrument seems impossible, and yet, here we are. Amazing. Read more about this fabulous collaboration here.

Man shares a heartwarming letter thanking a neighbor for letting him pet sit two dogs and a cat. 

"They motivated me to restart my life again." So beautiful. Read the full story here.

The evolution of motherhood laid out in this one panda video.

1.) Awww, she's so gentle with that tiny baby!

2) Oh, she's still picking him up by his head!

3) "Mom, I'm way too old for this!"

The personality of a cat summed up in one video.

"I know this is clearly where you eat, but I've decided it's my bed now and I'm not moving."

Watch how this sweet doggo shares his treat with a friend.

That little reassuring paw pat, though. "Hey buddy, you good." So darn sweet.

And then there are the goofy things humans do for fun.

Movies like to portray girls at sleepovers having pillow fights in their underwear, but this video is much closer to reality.

Woman gets invited on a sleepover by her 92-year-old grandpa who was feeling lonely.

Welp, I'm gonna need a tissue now. What a precious thing. Read the full story here.

Neighborhood kids teaching a boy how to ride a bike is just pure childhood goodness.

@heressometlcfoya

This made my heart melt. ❤️

This is what community looks like. Love to see it.

Kid comforts and peps up his teammate who was feeling inadequate.

Best teammate ever, indeed.

Hope that brought some sunshine to your day! Come back next week for another bright bouquet of the internet's best.

True

After over a thousand years of peaceful relations, European semi-superpowers Sweden and Switzerland may finally address a lingering issue between the two nations. But the problem isn’t either country’s fault. The point is that the rest of the world can’t tell them apart. They simply don’t know their kroppkakor (Swedish potato dumpling) from their birchermüesli (a Swiss breakfast dish).

This confusion on the European continent has played out in countless ways.

Swedish people who move to the United States often complain of being introduced as Swiss. The New York Stock Exchange has fallen victim to the confusion, and a French hockey team once greeted their Swiss opponents, SC Bern, by playing the Swedish National Anthem and raising the Swedish flag.

Skämtar du med mig? (“Are you kidding me?” in Swedish)

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© Jason Moore/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023 and © Tzahi Finkelstein /Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023

The 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

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If there's one thing Trevor Noah excels at (besides stand-up comedy), it's talking about hot topics. When Trevor Noah was hosting "The Daily Show," his "Between the Scenes" segments where he chatted with his live audience during breaks often went viral. In these clips, Noah would find ways of speaking about controversial issues in a way that was clear, concise, thoughtful and wise.

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This video is nuts.

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Instead, viewers can expect a rather aspirational fare—luxury skin products (that said celebrity is a brand ambassador for, no doubt)…top-of-the-line health foods…at least one New York Times Bestseller.

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Heroic sanitation workers save abducted, 10-year-old girl while on their trash route

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via Dion Merrick / Facebook

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