A Good Day

I moved to the east side of town about a year ago. Where I used to live, I could ride my bike to work in five minutes or leisurely walk in about 25 minutes. Life was good. I had little use for my car, and with today's gas prices, I long for those days. Now, I live just close enough to work that taking the bus isn't saving me any money and it costs me more time. But I do Go Metro from time to time because I am pro saving the Earth.

At any rate, now I drive to work. On the first day of my 28-minute commute through city streets, I saw the most delightful thing: a Sparkletts delivery truck. I was driving behind it. Headed due west, with the sun to our backs, the rear sign of the green truck sparkled. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. The name Sparkletts spread out in chunky raised white letters surrounded by a rectangle of large dangling blue sequin. They shimmied with the movement of the truck and playfully caught the sun's light. I loved it. I decided this was a sign. If I'm ever behind a Sparkletts truck in the morning, that means it's going to be a good day. A great day.

When I first moved to Southern California, I saw Sparkletts bottled water around and I thought it was chintzy. The name is a little trivial for something as essential as water. Wouldn't you want water who's name implies strength like Arrowhead or something foreign like Evian or Pellegrino, which people have been safely drinking for years? Sparkletts wasn't a name I could get behind. I couldn't take it seriously.

But now it doesn't matter. During my morning trek along Beverly Boulevard, I smile when I see the Sparkletts truck. I know it won't make much difference if I'm going to have a good or bad day, but it doesn't much matter because in that moment I am happy. I'm thinking about all the good things that could possibly happen in a day and it makes me hopeful.

This morning on my walk I encountered three(!) Sparkletts trucks. I can't wait to see what this day is going to bring.