Some dreams are too important to put off, especially when you’re running out of time to see them. This week, we’re opening with a Dallas Cowboys superfan losing his sight – and the wife who quietly spent months making sure he’d still get to see his team under those stadium lights.

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Cowboys Superfan Losing Sight Gets Game Of A Lifetime

With Stargardt stealing his sight, lifelong Cowboys fan Paul Trejo opened a tenth-anniversary box and found the dream he feared might slip away – tickets to see Dallas at AT&T Stadium in real life.

The 46-year-old Lake Havasu City resident discovered that his wife had secretly spent four months paying off Dallas Cowboys tickets for their 10th anniversary. The surprise gift carries real urgency because Stargardt disease is stealing Paul’s sight, with diabetes accelerating a timeline that doctors predict will leave him blind by 60.

“This is something that’s been at the top of my list to do before I lose my eyesight,” Paul said.

“Knowing that I might not be able to see my children get married or have their children would be the hardest reality I have to ever face.”

The anniversary surprise began innocuously with a Cowboys jersey in a box. But when Jodi, 36, urged her husband to check beneath it, the moment transformed into something even bigger. She captured a video as Paul held the paper close to his failing eyes, straining to decipher words that would unlock a decade-old dream before his vision disappeared forever – tickets to see the Cowboys in real life.

“I felt loved and surprised all at the same time,” he said. “I felt so special, too – I know my reaction doesn’t really show that, but I was in shock.”

Jodi had orchestrated the surprise with meticulous care, paying down credit cards before charging the tickets, then slowly eliminating the debt over four months. She understood the weight of time working against them.

“Paul has always dreamed of watching the Cowboys play in their stadium,” she said. “His eyesight has gotten worse throughout the past few years and, knowing of this dream, I decided that for our 10-year anniversary I needed to make that dream come true.”

The Cowboys represented more than a team for Paul. They were a link to his father, who he shared a Sunday ritual with throughout his childhood that he still cherishes to today. “He has loved the Cowboys since he was a little boy,” Jodi explained. “He used to watch football with his dad and they bonded over their love for the Cowboys.”

Two weeks after the reveal, Paul stood inside AT&T Stadium’s massive bowl, absorbing the 100,000-seat expanse while he still could. Dallas defeated Washington 44-22, but the score mattered less than the moment itself – a childhood dream coming true thanks to his partner.

The couple’s video, initially shared for family and friends, resonated with thousands online. “We never imagined this video would reach so many people,” Jodi said. “It’s been so amazing reading different stories from strangers and their family members about their own struggles with their eyesight and dreams.”

And Paul hopes their story encourages others to stop postponing dreams.

“My wife has known for years that this is something I really wanted, but we always looked at it as a low possibility because of life, kids, and money,” Paul reflected, still processing the gift’s magnitude. “If you dream of doing it, just get out here an make it a reality before its too late.”

Happy Headlines 📰

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

📍Atlanta, USA 
This Nonprofit Has Given Away $3 Billion in Brand-New Goods Over 40 Years.
Since 1985, Delivering Good has channeled the eye-watering sum worth of brand-new clothes, toys and home goods from retailers to families in crisis. (Read more 👉 Good News Network)

📍Japan
How Litter-Picking Became an Actual Sport (And It's Going Global)
Japan's spogomi turns trash collection into a tactical team sport where cigarette butts score big points, and 165,000 players worldwide have already scooped up 200,000 tonnes of litter. (Read more 👉 Positive News)

📍New York, USA
A Community Fridge Gives Free Fruit & Veg To Hundreds In Need
The Harlem community fridge is used for rescued produce destined for supermarket dumpsters and transforms Saturday mornings into a neighborhood feast where volunteers and teens work together to fill hundreds of grocery bags for those in need. (Read more 👉 Good Good Good)

📍England, UK
Plastic Wet Wipes To Be Banned
England is set to sign a ban on plastic wet wipes in a bid to stop billions of wipes clogging sewers and polluting rivers, with 95% of the public backing the change. (Read more 👉 BBC)

📍Australia
Band Pays For Fans’ Bar Tabs After Show Canceled
After safety concerns shut down their free Melbourne gig, Amyl & The Sniffers made it rain at seven local pubs, dropping $5,000 AUD behind the bars at each venue in true rock star fashion. (Read more 👉 NME)

📍UK
World's First Disabled Dog Park Has Race Tracks and Driving Tests
The UK's Broken Biscuits charity built a 7-acre wonderland complete with race tracks, skate rinks and driving tests for wheelchair-bound pups who zoom around like furry Formula 1 drivers and get used to their new, life-changing wheels. (Read more 👉 Good Good Good)

📍Sweden
A Mall Selling Nothing But Secondhand Goods Sustainable Retail Can Work
ReTuna in Sweden turned trash into $1.3 million in cash by creating the world's first mall where everything – from furniture to fashion – gets a second life through repair and upcycling. It’s being hailed as a great example for the destructive fast fashion industry by showing how secondhand can still be profitable. (Read more 👉 Happy Eco News)

Smileworthy Snapshots 📸 

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

For a split second over the Arizona desert, it looked like a human being was falling straight past the Sun.

That’s the illusion in astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy’s breathtaking image, where skydiver and YouTuber Gabriel C. Brown appears as a tiny black silhouette against a wildly detailed sun. The shot wasn’t luck but the result of six carefully planned attempts, a light aircraft, a bank of telescopes, and three-way radio chatter to nail the exact moment Brown stepped out into the sky.

“We had to find the right location, time, aircraft, and distance for the clearest shot… then align the shot and coordinate the exact moment of the jump,” Brown explained in an Instagram post. While he circled above, McCarthy tracked him from the ground, watching a live telescope feed in the desert heat. When everything finally lined up, McCarthy radioed one word: jump. Seconds later, he was shouting, “I got it, dude!” as the team around him erupted.

McCarthy named the finished piece The Fall of Icarus – a little nod to the old myth about flying too close to the sun, recreated this time with good planning, safe gear, and one very spectacular leap.

Give a little thanks, get a little joy 🧡

This Thanksgiving, help us keep the good news flowing while spoiling your favorite people with some feel-good Smileworthy merch.

As a subscriber, you can snag an exclusive discount with SMILE15 at checkout 👇

Bright Bits ☀️

A fun fact, a happiness hack, an inspiring quote, and a quick brain teaser—your feel-good four-pack.

🤗 Happiness Hack

Text a Friend Back. Strong relationships are one of the most reliable predictors of long-term happiness and health, so that quick check-in text or coffee catch-up is a bit like medicine for your future self. (Source: Harvard Gazette – Good Genes Are Nice, But Joy Is Better)

❝Some Inspiring Words❞

“Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.”

― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

💡Fun Fact

In medieval times, a “moment” was an actual unit of time, roughly 90 seconds long.

🧠 Brain Teaser

In this sequence of planets, can you work out why they are listed in this order?

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Mars, Mercury, Venus.

Answer at the bottom of newsletter.

Puzzle copyright © Kevin Stone

Before You Go…A Video Booster* 📺

He might be 5'5" and she’s 6'1", but on their wedding day Kendrick had one perfectly cheeky plan to meet his bride at her level. See why this video is going viral.

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

🧠 Brain Teaser Answer

The order is based on the length of day of the planet in Earth hours and days.

Jupiter has the shortest day (≈ 9 Earth hours), and Venus has the longest day (≈ 243 Earth days).