👋 Welcome back to Smileworthy!

This week, we’ve got you covered for all things good. There’s the heartwarming tale of the lottery winner who passed on the good fortune at her local grocery store to the tune of $20k. There’s the new representative Barbie doll that’s set to make play time more inclusive. And there’s new tech helping the blind experience sports like never before. But first, a quick lift to set you up for the weekend.

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Feel good stories from Happilynews.com guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Trevor Allen had one rule: if he ever saw his old 1995 Ford F150 for sale again, he'd find a way to buy it back.

The Salt Lake City electrician bought the old truck shortly after he started dating his now-wife Tawny back in 2019. It wasn't fancy – a beat-up white F150 with scratches, a toolbox he'd added himself, and handles he'd swapped out. But it was his. His first truck.

Eventually, practicality won out. Trevor sold it to upgrade to a newer model. The regret set in almost immediately.

"Ever since he sold the truck, he regretted it and talked about it all the time," Tawny, 26, said. "He always said if he ever found it, he'd do anything to get it back."

Then one day, Trevor was scrolling Facebook Marketplace when a listing stopped him cold. A white 1995 F150. The same scratch marks. The same toolbox. The same handles. It was his truck.

He messaged Tawny immediately – but there was a problem. They were in the middle of buying a house, and there was no way he could sell a current vehicle fast enough to snag the truck before someone else did.

What Trevor didn't know was that Tawny had other plans.

As a stay-at-home mom, she wasn't tied to the housing purchase finances. So while Trevor was away for work, she and her father made a quiet trip to see a man about a truck. They bought it on the spot.

Then came the fun part. Tawny, a portrait photographer, loaded up their 11-month-old son Bayker and drove out to the desert for a photo shoot with the truck as the backdrop. She snapped shots of Bayker in the bed, leaning over the tailgate, grinning by the hood – then tucked the prints into the dash, a trail of memories waiting to be discovered.

On November 26, Trevor pulled up after work to find his old truck in the driveway, a giant bow across the hood, Tawny and Bayker standing beside it.

"Your mom is crazy!" he said to Bayker, beaming.

The video Tawny posted went viral – hundreds of thousands watching a man reunite with a truck he thought he'd lost forever.

"He works so hard for us, and I knew how much he loved and wanted the truck," Tawny said. "He's always finding ways to give our son and I everything we need and want. I wanted to make sure he got the truck he wanted because he deserved it."

Now that old F150 is back where it belongs – ready for a whole new chapter of road trips and father-son memories.

"The message I hope people take from this," Tawny said, "is if there's a will, there's a way."

Watch the video here:

It’s not all doom and gloom out there. Here’s some positive news items from publications around the world.

📍Ottawa, Canada
A $70M Lottery Winner Spent $20K on Groceries For Complete Strangers
Patricia "Patty" Warden walked into a Greely Foodland after landing the huge lotto sum and started quietly handing out gift cards to shoppers – hundreds of them. She'd experienced homelessness, addiction, and trauma before turning her life around. Now sober for 30 years, she says the biggest change isn't what she can buy – it's how many people she can help. (Read more 👉 Sunny Skyz)

📍China
The Giant Panda Just Got Bumped Off the Endangered List
After decades of conservation efforts, these bamboo-munching icons have officially been downgraded from "Endangered" to "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List. With 1,864 pandas now in the wild – up from dangerously low numbers – the WWF credits China's investment in habitat restoration. Still work to do, but this is a win worth celebrating. (Read more 👉 Green Matters)

📍USA
Mattel Introduces Its First Autistic Barbie
The newest member of Barbie's Fashionistas line features subtly averted eyes, articulated wrists for stimming, a flowy A-line dress designed for sensory comfort, and accessories including noise-canceling headphones and a communication tablet. Mattel worked with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network for over 18 months to get the details right. (Read more 👉 ABC News)

📍Maryland, USA
Neighbor Catches Kids Dropped From Burning Home
When Ashley Gubernat woke to flames on the first floor, she grabbed her two sons and headed for a second-story window. That's when neighbor Steven Angelini ran over and positioned himself below. "Drop them, I got them," he kept saying. He caught both boys safely, and other neighbors arrived with a ladder for Ashley. Everyone made it out. (Read more 👉 Sunny Skyz)

📍Denver, USA
Blind Fans Can Now "Watch" Basketball Through Their Fingertips
The Denver Nuggets have teamed up with OneCourt to bring tactile broadcast technology to every home game. The handheld device uses haptic feedback to translate live ball movement into vibrations – letting blind and low-vision fans track every pass, shot, and fast break in real time. Five devices are available free at each game. (Read more 👉 CBS News)

📍USA
Cancer Survival Hits a Historic Milestone: 70%
For the first time ever, seven in 10 Americans now survive at least five years after a cancer diagnosis. That's up from just 50% in the 1970s. The American Cancer Society credits improved treatments – especially immunotherapy and targeted therapies – for the jump. An estimated 4.8 million cancer deaths have been prevented since 1991. (Read more 👉 NBC News)

📍Ethiopia/USA
A Heart Surgeon Saved His Life as a Teen – Now They Operate Together
Mesfin Yana grew up in an Ethiopian village with no electricity or running water. At 15, he flew to Atlanta for life-saving heart surgery performed by Dr. Jim Kauten. Today, Mesfin works at the Mayo Clinic running heart-lung machines – and volunteers alongside the same surgeon who saved him, performing surgeries in Ethiopia through a nonprofit called Heart Attack Ethiopia. (Read more 👉 Good News Network)

📍UK
The Red Arrows Stunt Team Just Got Their First Female Leader Wing Commander
Sasha Nash has taken command of Britain's famous RAF aerobatic team – the first woman in its 60-year history. A former Tornado pilot who flew tours in Afghanistan, Nash said she decided to join the RAF and fly fast jets when she was six years old. "If someone had told me 20 years ago I'd be commanding the Red Arrows, I wouldn't have believed it." (Read more 👉 BBC News)

📍Antarctica/UK
Double-Amputee Veteran Conquers the 7 Summits
Hari Budha Magar just became the first above-the-knee double amputee to summit the highest peak on every continent. The British veteran – who lost both legs to an IED in Afghanistan – completed his final climb up Mount Vinson in -13°C conditions, sometimes crawling on all fours. His six-year mission raised funds for disability and veterans' charities. "A disability shouldn't limit the size of your dream." (Read more 👉 Good News Network)

📍Worldwide
200 Years Ago, Education Was a Luxury – Now Most People Have Access
In the early 1800s, fewer than 1 in 5 adults had any formal education. Today? That ratio has flipped – more than 80% of the world's adults have received basic schooling, and about 9 in 10 children are enrolled in primary school. Two centuries of quiet, steady progress. Check out the graph below from Our World in Data.

A unique, sometimes quirky, but always eye-catching photo feature each week.

Two years. Countless failed attempts. And one very patient guy on a bike with a teddy bear strapped to the handlebars.

Welsh photographer Michael Meighan finally nailed his dream shot this month – a pitch-perfect recreation of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial's iconic BMX-across-the-moon scene. And honestly? It was worth every minute of the wait.

The concept started when Meighan photographed his friend Nathan Edwards cycling up a hill near Cardiff, silhouetted against the moon from five kilometres away. The internet loved it, and someone commented: "You should try an E.T. shot next."

Of course he accepted the challenge.

But what followed was a two-year cycle of near-misses. The moon would be perfect, but clouds would roll in. The weather would cooperate, but the lunar alignment was off. Wales, it turns out, isn't exactly known for clear skies – so every attempt felt like a long shot.

But on the first full moon of 2026, the stars aligned. Meighan set up 1.4 miles away on a residential street with a massive telephoto lens, coordinating with Edwards by phone. (E.T. would approve.) Meanwhile, Edwards pedalled into position with a teddy bear wrapped in a blue towel sitting in a basket – the closest thing to an adorable alien hitchhiker you can get on short notice.

The result is pure movie magic. A glowing lunar disc, a tiny silhouette, and a whole lot of childhood wonder flooding back.

Some shots take minutes. This one took 730 days – and Meighan is absolutely over the, er, moon about it.

📷 Photo by Michael Meighan / @mr_meighan

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How to have a good day with some simple mindset shifts. A good day doesn't require perfect timing or a fully charged phone. According to the Calm team, it's built from tiny, intentional shifts – like pausing before you react, breathing when your chest tightens, or choosing one thing to let go of.

Some standouts from their list: Start with a one-minute check-in before reaching for your phone. Set a single gentle intention (write it on a sticky note if it helps). And at day's end, mentally "put the day down" by saying, "Today is done."

Read more over on the Calm blog

― Haruki Murakami

The world’s oldest dog lived to 29.5 years old. While the median age a dog reacehs tends to be about 10-15 years, one Australian cattle dog, ‘Bluey’, survived to the ripe old age of 29.5.

1773: Captain James Cook becomes the first to cross Antarctic Circle

1888: The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for the “increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.”

1916: Rodman Wanamaker organises a lunch to discuss forming a golfers association (later the pGA) at the Taplow Club, Martinique Hotel, New York City

2001: Wikipedia, a free Wiki or content encyclopedia, is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger

2009: Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff. All passengers and crew survive in what becomes known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”

What comes next in this sequence?

Anwser at the bottom of the newsletter.

*Studies show that watching heartwarming videos can boost your mood. So sit back and start your weekend positively - doctors orders!

🧠 Brain Teaser Answer

Reasoning:

Each letter appears as many times as there are straight lines in that letter.

The letter H has three straight lines, so there are three H’s shown.