Ah the little things in life that make us feel grateful, make us smile… Having decided to look through all the old unpublished drafts, I came across this one, written late in the evening on a summer’s night two and a half years ago (June 2012). I was still living in Vancouver at that time, having just started my first full-time job after undergrad, I was single, happy, and indulging myself in the young urban professional lifestyle: 

Well, putting the key in my sock is what I should have done… but I didn’t. It is now 10:30pm on a weekday night, and I am crashing at a friend’s place in my running outfit, because I have lost my key while jogging just a few hours ago. The fact my roommate is all the way across the country in Toronto right now leaves me with no other choice but to wait until the building’s management office opens tomorrow morning. So, let’s rewind:

It was a beautiful day! Upon getting off work, without any hesitation, I decided to go for a jog along the seawall. I was wearing my new running shorts, which I had only recently purchased as I convinced myself I’m getting back into running, and enjoyed every step of the way. Upon reaching my turning-around half-point, I excitedly pulled out my phone from the pocket to check my time, and at which point the key must have fallen out…

I guess the rest is then history: how I spent forever tracing my steps, how the night got brisk and eventually cold, how I held on to the last shred of hope that I would somehow find my key or maybe I forgot to properly lock my door in the first place… Surprisingly though, I wasn’t all that worried or stressed, slightly frustrated at my own carelessness, but overall, there were other things in this process that had helped putting a smile on my face, rather than a frown:

1. As soon as I realized I lost my key, I started texting my friends who live in the neighbourhood trying to find myself a couch to crash on; the amount of helpful responses I got instantly warmed my heart.
2. By the time I returned to my building, my neighbour was being helpful too, by letting me inside the lobby and trying to come up with solutions. Though none worked, the effort and the kindness is much appreciated.
3. A really cute boy came inside while I was sitting by the mailboxes. He lives in this building, but I have never met him before. I probably had a look on my face, since he asked “locked out?” right away. Then he stayed and chatted for a bit, empathized with how it sucks to have gone for a supposedly light-hearted and fun run, only to come home to this. And in a really sweet and not at all creepy way, he checked with me to see whether I had a place to stay the night. I, sadly, forgot to introduce myself or ask for his name… hopefully I’ll run into him again!

Despite all that happened, it was a gorgeous day – and that in itself is something worth appreciating! Although Vancouverites boast about the bluebird sky sunny summer days all the time, we actually don’t get all that many of them – we just choose to have selective memories and always remember the good, perhaps.

So here I am, chilling on the couch at my good friend’s, waiting for our pizza to arrive; we will then proceed to watching some sweet climbing movies. Not too shabby eh?

P.S. Keys in the sock idea? Cute boy’s suggestion.