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Guest column

Read the following the next time you lose your temper with your child, decide to drive over-aggressively, or get discouraged about your life. Read it as if it were a cold, tart lemonade on a sultry, summer afternoon.The responsive giggle of a happy child to the tickle of your finger.The first bite on a hot, dry day into a sweet and succulent oversized Georgia peach.The cat's coarse, wet tongue on your smooth cheek.The ballet of a wide receiver catching a sideline pass with his toes paired to the ground behind him. The long-delayed first full hug from a father or mother for a child who had never been cuddled.The sight of the lofted flight of a white golf ball against a backdrop of cumulus-clouded blue sky and fertile, green landing area. A Frederic Chopin composition skillfully interpreted on a finely-tuned grand piano.The first time your newborn closes his miniature hand around your finger.Standing with closed eyes in a gentle spring rain. Awakening on a fall morning to the sweet, transforming smell of freshly baked bread.The exhilarating animal instinct of pure pleasure when your parched mouth first tastes a stream of earth-born cold artesian well water.With eyes closed in your church pew absorbing an affective, angelic full choir singing with deepest heart the "Hallelujah Chorus". The first flower of spring. The soothing rhythm of the ocean's eternal heartbeat on a sand-swept beach. The perfectly-written and styled business letter.A child's art interpretation of the family in which mommy and daddy are both smiling.A sensual foot massage after a long day.The sight of a teenager pausing to help a senior citizen to cross the street.To hear "I love you" from the one you are deeply in love with.The everlasting wonder of the external structure of a flower.The incomprehensible notion that space has no boundary and the wonderment of its orchestration of stars.Slipping on a new pair of winter gloves that fit perfectly.A cold drink after a day of baling hay.The Vikings up by 40 points with two seconds to play in the Super Bowl.Your fingers melting into the smooth belly of your new baby.A fresh blanket of pure snow from here to the horizon.Your frigid hands hugging a hot cup of chocolate.The earthy smell of a freshly cut piece of wood.The sight and sound of tall prairie grass dancing in the wind.The concentric circles from a stone dropped in a placid lake.The intricacy of a spider's web.The Blue Mounds.A maple leaf.Sunrise.Sunset.The sense, if only momentarily, that all is right with the world. And guess what? The more you pause to identify the beauty all around, the more all will be right with the world.

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