Markers, a cappella & stolen palmtrees

I am a woman that takes pleasure in small things.  (No, that is not what she said).

Taking on the commitment to notice the little amusements in life, I am finding lots of them.  

Today, I was writing on the giant dry erase calendar in our office.  I went to the bowl that contains all of the dry erase markers and I discovered that new colors had been ordered.  We had purple and orange and green and yellow... They had the chiseled edge that allows me to write nice and neat on the board.  I was, and still am, very happy about this new discovery.  I have written numerous things on dry erase boards today just so I could use the many different colors.  

I ran into a student on the street today.  CH is one of my favorites, so running into him is  in and of itself a joyous moment.  That is not what I want to write about though.  Instead, the content of our conversation is what made me laugh.  CH informed me that the a cappella community (we have 10 different groups) think I am the world's biggest a cappella fan.  The reason this new moniker has been bestowed on me is because during the recent orientation showcase, I was in the front row and I was bopping along to the songs.  This is a showcase that is run by our office.  I am the advisor to the a cappella organizations.  I love music.  Truth be told though, I do not really enjoy a cappella all that much.  What I do appreciate is how hard they work and that they are talented students.  Seems like my excellent audience participation was read as full-out fanatic.  Better that they believe that than otherwise.  Still it makes me laugh.

During tonight's event (which turned out just fine) I watched as a student grabbed a giant inflatable palm tree and started to walk out the door.  Before she could leave the building I stopped her and asked her why she was stealing the decor.  Her response was that it matched her room. I thought about the space needed to store such an item in our closet.  I thought about the absurdity of wanting one of those giant things in your room.  I thought about the sheer audacity of simply walking out of an event with the tree.  With all those thoughts whirling in my mind, I turned to her and said  - next time you want to steal decor, just ask.  Then proceeded to let her have the palm tree.  I hope she enjoys it.