Don’t Wave Off the Dessert Cart: A Friday Reflection on Small, Sweet Moments

 Day 311 of 2026

It’s Friday, so I’m keeping things light today. Here’s a quote I came across that made me laugh out loud and then quietly nod.

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.” ~ Erma Bombeck

I love this one. It’s funny, a little dramatic, and somehow completely true. Erma Bombeck had a gift for saying wise things while making you smile, and this might be my favorite example. There’s no heavy lesson here, just a gentle nudge: if something good is being offered, maybe say yes.

The Case for the Dessert Cart

Think about how often we wave off the dessert cart in everyday life. Not literally, although sometimes that too. I mean the small, sweet things we skip because we’re busy, tired, or sure there will be a better time later.

The phone call with a friend we keep meaning to make. The walk we skip because the to-do list is long. The coffee we drink at the desk instead of by the window. The hour we could have spent doing something just because it sounded nice.

We tell ourselves “next time.” Most of the time, there is a next time. But not always, and even when there is, it won’t be this particular moment. The light, the mood, the company, and the version of us sitting there will all be a little different.

Bombeck’s point, I think, isn’t that we should live recklessly. It’s that we should stop treating joy like something we have to earn first.

A Friday Check-In (The Easy Kind)

Fridays tend to bring out the scorekeeper in many of us. We count what we finished this week, what we missed, and what slid onto Monday’s list.

Today I’d like to try a lighter version. Instead of asking, What did I accomplish? I’m asking, What did I enjoy?

It’s a surprisingly different question. When I think back over this week, the answers aren’t the big milestones. They’re small things: a good meal, a funny moment at work, a quiet morning when nothing was urgent, a text from someone who was thinking of me. Those moments weren’t on any list, but they’re the ones I’d happily live again.

If you try it, I suspect you’ll find your own list is longer than you expected.

Permission to Enjoy Things

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us picked up the idea that enjoyment has to be scheduled, justified, or saved for the weekend. We feel a little guilty when we linger. We say, “I shouldn’t,” when what we mean is, “I’d really like to.”

So consider this your permission slip. You’re allowed to enjoy the good thing in front of you. You’re allowed to take the extra ten minutes. You’re allowed to laugh in the middle of a busy day.

None of this means ignoring responsibilities. The work will still be there, and so will the laundry. But a life made only of tasks gets very quiet and very gray, and the dessert cart is what keeps it interesting.

It’s Friday, After All

Fridays feel different for a reason. The week has done its work, and there’s a little breathing room ahead. It’s a natural day to pause and ask what you’d like to say yes to before the weekend starts.

Here are a few small yeses worth considering:

• Take the longer route. Whether you’re walking, driving, or just letting a conversation wander, enjoy it.
• Call the person you’ve been meaning to call. Even five minutes counts.
• Eat the good thing. Slowly, and without a lecture from yourself.
• Leave something undone. Not everything needs to be finished before the weekend.
• Say thank you to someone. It costs nothing, and it brightens two days at once.

None of these are big. That’s the beauty of them. Joy tends to show up in small packaging.

Carrying a Lighter Step Into the Weekend

The weekend is just ahead, and it will bring its own dessert carts, in every sense of the word. There may be gatherings, treats, and a calendar that fills up faster than expected.

It’s tempting to meet our free time with a long list of rules and expectations, or to treat it as one more thing to get through. I’d like to try something different. I’d like to meet it the way Bombeck might: with a sense of humor, a bit of appetite, and a willingness to say yes to the things that make the days sweeter.

That doesn’t mean saying yes to everything. It means noticing what’s actually worth saying yes to, and not letting it roll by simply because the timing felt inconvenient.

A Closing Thought

The good stuff doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it rolls by quietly on a little cart, and we’re so focused on what’s next that we wave it away.

This weekend, I’m going to try to notice. I’m going to look up, say yes to one small sweet thing, and enjoy it without apology.

So here’s my question for you, and I’d love to hear your answer in the comments: what’s one dessert cart you’re going to stop waving off?

Happy Friday.

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

The Call That Took Up My Whole Morning

 Day 310 of 2026

Hi Friends,

It was a bit of a hard day. Someone needed an explanation of something, and I did my best to give it. I had to look in a few places for the answers, and the call ran longer than she wanted. I could tell she was frustrated.

Then she followed up with another question, and I answered it. Almost immediately she said, “Oh, I know why,” and began typing out the very reason I had just shared. A moment later, when I repeated my point, she told me I was now repeating what she said.

It’s a small thing, almost petty. But small things like that have a way of settling in. They can quietly take a good day and make it feel heavy.

Looking back, I don’t think she meant anything by it. People are often rushed and under pressure, and when someone is focused on getting to the answer, it’s easy to miss who helped them get there. 

What I’m taking from it is this: I can’t control whether I get credit or whether I’m heard in the moment. But I can control what I carry out of the call. I can acknowledge that it was uncomfortable, let it be what it was, and choose not to hand it to the rest of my day.

When someone is working through something with me, I want them to feel that their effort mattered, even if we land on the same answer.

Has a small moment ever taken more of your day than it deserved? What helps you let it go?

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

Feeling Welcomed At The Grocery Store

 Day 309 of 2026

Hi Friends,

I went to the grocery store today and watched a woman learning the ropes at the self-checkout.

The man training her was talking to customers about his trainee. He seemed happy to be teaching her, and she seemed happy to be there.

She was talking with customers, too. While I waited at the checkout counter, she came over and said hi to me. She smiled, joined conversations, and clearly enjoyed herself.

It was a small moment, but I kept thinking about it after I left.

Being new can feel uncomfortable. You don’t know the routine yet. You have questions, but you might hesitate to ask them. Even a simple task can feel harder when someone is watching and you’re trying to get it right.

But what I noticed about her was her enthusiasm. She was learning her job while making time to connect with the people around her. And the person training her seemed to welcome that.

It made me wonder how much our experience of starting something depends on the people around us.

Think about someone who was patient with you when you were learning. Maybe they answered the same question twice without sounding annoyed. Maybe they gave you time to figure something out. Maybe they simply seemed glad you were there.

Those things can stay with us long after we’ve learned the task.

Watching her also reminded me how far a simple hello can go. I was just waiting to check out, but her friendliness gave me something to take home besides groceries.

I’ve been thinking about what I bring to those everyday encounters. Do I make room for someone who is learning? Do I return a smile? Do I give myself a moment to notice when someone reaches out?

We don’t always know what makes another person feel comfortable enough to be themselves. That day, I saw two people who seemed to enjoy working together, and a woman whose happiness reached the customers around her.

It left me with a question: What could I do today to help someone feel that welcome?

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

Noticing The Tone

 Day 308 of 2026

Hi Friends,

I’ve been more aware lately, and one of the things I’ve noticed is how much the tone of the person I report to changes from day to day. Some days she asks how I’m doing. Other days she goes straight to the topic. Lately, it’s almost always the topic.

She isn’t someone I idolize as a leader, and I’m learning that’s okay. Not everyone we work with will be a model we want to follow. But I’m starting to believe that every person we work with is still teaching us something, even if the lesson is simply what we want to do differently.

I don’t think she means anything by it. People are busy, and pressure has a way of narrowing our attention until all that’s left is the task. 

So instead of taking it personally, I’m choosing to treat it as a quiet reminder. A small “how are you?” costs almost nothing, but it can change how someone walks into a conversation. I want to be the kind of person who asks it and actually waits for the answer.

It also makes me wonder how my own tone shifts from day to day, and what the people around me notice when I’m not paying attention.

So here’s my question for you. What’s one small thing you could do this week to make someone feel seen before you get to the point?

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

Day Job First, Writing Second

 Day 307 of 2026

Hi Friends,

Somehow, and for some reason, my focus on Monday went better than I expected. I can’t point to a special routine or a perfect night of sleep. The day simply cooperated. I got through most of my to-dos in the first half of the day, then spent the second half on lower priorities that needed doing but not my best energy.

Typically, writing is my first priority. It’s the thing I try to protect before the rest of the world gets a vote. But today, work took precedence, and that’s okay.

I want to say that plainly, because it’s easy to treat a change in plan as a failure of the plan. Skip the morning writing session, and suddenly it feels like slipping, like proof of weak commitment. But that isn’t what happened. I looked at the day, saw that my day job needed the early hours, and chose accordingly. That’s not drifting. That’s leading.

What helped most was a sentence I said to myself: focus on your day job first, and come back to writing later. That second half matters. “Later” can easily turn into “never” if it isn’t attached to an actual return. With that promise, I wasn’t postponing writing, just rearranging the order.

And now here I am, doing exactly what I said I would do.

Some days will go the way you planned, and some won’t. The question isn’t whether the order stayed the same. It’s whether you kept your word to yourself by the end of the day. Priorities can shift without disappearing, as long as you come back to the thing you set aside.

If your plans shuffled today, that’s fine. Just make sure you return to what you put down.

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

A Little Sunday Inspiration: Meet Champ

 Day 306 of 2026

Hi Friends,

Hey, it’s Sunday, and I came across a story from October that felt like the perfect way to start a new month. It’s about a little dog named Champ, and yes, his name suits him perfectly.

Champ is a 10-year-old Yorkie mix who recently won PEOPLE’s 2026 World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest. While his adorable face and oversized ears certainly deserve some attention, it’s his journey that made me stop scrolling.

Found as a stray in Texas with a serious leg injury, Champ needed an amputation to give him a chance at a comfortable, pain-free life. In November 2023, special education teacher Susan Carmody adopted him. She soon discovered how much he loved running, playing, exploring, and being around people.

Today, Champ is a certified therapy dog. He visits schools, airports, and assisted living facilities, offering comfort and giving people a reason to smile. He even joins Susan’s special education classes, where the students treat him like a celebrity.

What stayed with me was how someone’s decision to help one little dog grew into something that touches so many other lives. Champ received care and a loving home. Now, through those visits, he gets to share some of that comfort with others.

There’s something lovely about that, especially on a Sunday when many of us are getting ready for another busy week. It made me think about the small opportunities we have to show up for someone: checking in on a friend, offering help, or making time to listen.

Champ probably has no idea he’s inspiring anyone. He’s simply enjoying his life and greeting the next person.

And honestly, a small dog with big ears spreading a little happiness feels like a pretty good story to carry into Monday.

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita

Source: PEOPLE, October 19, 2026.

Happy Halloween: The Only Scary Thing Left Is How Fast the Year Went

 Day 305 of 2026

Hi Friends,

It is the last day of October, all 31 days of it, and it is Halloween. Happy Halloween! I would say it is spooky out there, but let’s be honest, nothing is scary at this point in the year. The only truly frightening thing is the calendar. We have about eight weeks left in 2026, and that is the kind of number that makes you check your to-do list and quietly close it again.

So let’s not be scared today. Let’s be fun.

Here is my challenge: dress up. Pick any character you like. A witch, a pirate, a superhero, a cat, a movie star, or whoever you secretly wish you were on a Tuesday. If you are at home, wear the costume earlier in the day and act like nothing is unusual. If you are working today, wear the hat at least. Wear the wig. Carry the prop. It is the one day a year when everyone agrees to be a little ridiculous, and honestly, we should take full advantage of it. A grown adult in pajamas has never made a day worse.

And if costumes are not your thing, wear something orange and call it a vibe. I will not tell.

Now, once you've sorted your character and got a piece of candy in hand, take a quiet minute to look back on the month. October does not get enough credit. It moves fast, it looks beautiful, and then it hands you a bag of candy and a calendar full of holidays. So let’s slow it down for a second.

How did October go for you? What did you enjoy most? Maybe it was a cozy evening, a good meal, a weekend away, or a pumpkin latte you did not apologize for.

What surprises showed up? Some were good, like a message from an old friend or news you did not see coming. Some were not, and you handled them anyway. Both count.

What moments will you remember today, and forever? Not the big milestones, necessarily. Sometimes it is a kid pointing at a glowing tree on a drive, or laughter at the dinner table that carried on well past the dishes. Those are the ones that stay.

What are you grateful for right now? Pick one thing, then pick a second one. It gets easier.

And if you live somewhere with four seasons, did you enjoy the change? The cooler mornings, the golden leaves, the first time you reached for a sweater without complaining? If you live somewhere without much of a seasonal shift, there is still something about October that feels like a turning point. Maybe it is the light, the holidays on the horizon, or just the knowledge that the year is on its final stretch. Either way, this is the moment when we stop looking ahead to the year and start looking at its end.

That sounds dramatic, but it is actually a gift. Eight weeks is enough time to finish something, start something small, or simply enjoy the things you have been rushing past. There is no need to panic. You'll have time to plan tomorrow, when the costume is off and November arrives.

For tonight, enjoy the fun. Eat the candy, answer the door for the trick-or-treaters, and laugh at the costumes. Be a little silly. You have earned it after ten months.

Happy Halloween, and happy last day of October. Which character are you today?

Wishing you peace and happiness from my heart to yours!

Peace

Monita